NotSoWicked Witch From the West
by RavvenX
Summary: A routine arguement between Sha Gojyo and Son Goku leads to the 'discovery' of a young lady. Her apperance isn't the only thing that sends the boys for a loop, apparently she's from a distant land called England. rated M for later content
1. Scene 1: Bowling over Innocents

"You're cheating, you flea-bitten kappa!"

It was a normal day, clear blue sky, the arguing monkey and kappa in the back of the jeep, and Sanzo about to blow a gasket and just shoot them all. The blonde haired monk's eye twitched for about the billionth time that day, even though the day was only half through, as his hand clenched around the harisen, four seconds away from smacking the next one who spoke.

"You damn monkey! I didn't cheat!" The taller man exclaimed, holding up his arms. "I don't have any baggy sleeves like you do to hide any cards!" He added, motioning to his outfit. The kappa was also quite correct; the white tank top tucked into his pants, which came up above the belt enough to cover his stomach slightly, had no sleeves at all. Over that was a light blue vest with a large collar, also having no sleeves had sleeves, and thus not much of a place to hide any cards. In fact, the only things on his arms at all were what looked like white bandages wrapped around his wrists. Suicide kappa? No, just decoration.

"You're only supposed to take four cards!" the monkey boy snapped, pointing at his hand, his short orange cape fluttering behind him with his movement as the yellowish shirt underneath a red and black cover shifted over his arms, the sleeves never dropping below his elbows. "You've got six in your hand!"

"You can't count, can you, you stupid chimp!" The red eyed man lifted up his cards. "Look! One…two…three… four!" He showed the brunette boy the 'four' cards that he was holding in his hand, making sure to keep the two extra cards in his possession firmly level with the others.

The monkey's hand shot forwards and seized hold of the kappa's wrist, shaking it slightly to make two more cards show themselves. "FIVE, SIX! I knew you were cheating!"

The kappa's quick, seventy percent perverted mind quickly brought up an excuse to give to the hyper-active youth. Although he knew for sure the monkey would just deny anything he said… because he had, in fact, been cheating. Damn the chimp for having enough of a brain to figure out rough probabilities.

"Damn monkey you framed me! You slipped them in there," he yelled, throwing the cards down on the floor of the jeep angrily. He was a good actor, although sometimes that got him a smack in the face by the shitty monk's harisen.

"I DID NOT! You liar! You lose by disqualification, 'cause you cheated! So I get your share of rice tonight!" Goku cried, half angrily and half in glee at the notion of getting more than his fair share of food. That's Goku, always thinking with his stomach, everything the monkey does boils down to either the last meal or the next meal or any of the multiple snacks he has in between.

"What! There was no bet on rice!" Gojyo's strong arm came out and wrapped around Goku's neck, the kappa's free hand clenched into a fist as he drove his knuckles into the boy's scalp, twisting it back and forth. The monkey gave a yell and started to twist back and forth frantically, desperately trying to get out of the powerful hold.

"We're here!" the driving brunette said pleasantly as the jeep pulled to a stop in the town. He had a fixed smile on his face, his voice matching it as he turned slightly in his chair to look at Sanzo's whose hand was over his face and that dark look over his eyes that clearly said he was ready to kill them all. "Everyone out! Hakaryu's tired." Hakkai then added in, turning to look back at the arguing couple.  
"Let me go you pervvy kappa!" Goku managed to wriggle free of Gojyo's solid hold and sank his teeth into the bigger man's forearm. Then he quickly snapped back and leapt out of the jeep gracefully and landed on his feet rushing away from the kappa's retaliation.

"I'm not through with you yet, monkey!" threatened the half-breed as he rushed after the seemingly younger of the two, his fist raised in the air.

"Get away from me!" The golden eyed young man commanded, bending down to lift up a stone from the road way and chuck it back at the kappa. There were plenty more stones were that one came from, it was just a matter of picking them up.

"You little brat!" The stone whizzed by Gojyo's cheek, barely missing. He ducked down and lunged, tackling the smaller man around the middle and they landed hard on the ground. His hands caught the monkey's wrists and they struggled, both fighting for dominance and the final pin.

"GET OFF ME!" he roared as his teeth sank once more into the kappa's forearm, struggling against him in the confusion of bodies that they had created. Neither of them cared where their struggle was taking them, for all they knew they were still ten feet away from Hakkai and Sanzo where the battle had begun.

The healer and the monk stood off to the side, one taking a long drag of a cigarette while the other rubbed the back of his head, a cheerful look on his face as a white dragon landed peacefully on his shoulder. Sanzo was thinking longingly of just pulling out his gun and just popping them both in the head, and this would all be over.

"You guys, this isn't exactly keeping a low profile you know." Hakkai inputted, holding his index finger up to the sky as he did. Sanzo shook his head, looking over at the inch-taller healer.

"It's not going to do anything."  
"You're probably right…" Hakkai's fingers trailed over the soft fur on Hakaryu's neck, and the dragon responded to this gesture by giving a happy peep. "Except we should do something before they crash into something… or one." Hakaryu gave a coo, latching his claws into the pale pink sash tied like a Miss. America banner over the chi-user's shoulder.

The two currently wrestling and arguing, one of them biting, had gone into rolling to see who could pin the other, traveling steadily down the street,

"I need to check in to the in—"the monk started, obviously not interested in breaking the two up unless his precious effort was warranted.

"KYAAHH!"

Hakkai and Sanzo, even in towns or during their sleep, were always fast to respond to any type of scream… or yell as it were. They rushed down the street in the direction the monkey and kappa's antics had brought them. It wasn't that long before they came upon a tangle of arms and legs in the middle of the road.

Apparently the wrestling match had caused the tallest and shortest member of the Sanzo party slamming into an innocent passerby, who was currently pinned under the weight of the two men on top of them. Sanzo smacked his hand to his forehead as a vein started to appear on his temple, pulsing with his suppressed rage.

It was also very apparent that neither the monkey nor the kappa realized they had someone else accidentally entangled in their brawl. The monk drew his trusty banishing gun out from his robes and fired it, the bullet whizzing up into the sky harmlessly as the wheel rotated and the hammer slammed down. It was the gun's bang that Sanzo was looking for to cause the two wrestlers to freeze, their eyes wide.

After the three persons had been untangled and pulled away from each other it was discovered the poor bystander was a young lady, who was currently clutching her side with one arm. She slowly wobbled to her feet again, Hakkai's strong but gently hand cupped under her elbow to support her.

"You idiots!" Gojyo and Goku were currently in the middle of the harisen punishment of their lives as Sanzo released his anger that he had held in during the untangling. "I don't care if you kill each other but you're starting to get OTHER people hurt! Morons!"

Ignoring the background noise, Hakkai checked to make sure the woman was all right, while also taking in her rather odd appearance. His green eyes gently made sure nothing was injured, and instantly locked onto the side that she was clutching.

"Are you alright?" he asked, smiling slightly. His inscrutable green eyes sparkled gently with his natural kind nature as he bent down slightly to look her in the face. "Don't worry about those three, they're harmless really."

The startled and still dazed girl looked up at Hakkai; she was shorter by about three inches, bringing her height to maybe 5'8". Her eyes closed halfway in the daze she was recovering from, they were a passive shade of grey, nothing too bold or too amazing. She seemed to be very ill, due to the paleness of her skin, but her cheeks had a rouge tinge to them… a healthy tinge.

"Will you permit me to see your side?" he asked softly, trying to figure out what was up with her. Her eyes seemed too large for her face, kind of like Goku's eyes were rather large, but Goku's eyes portrayed innocence, hence the size. However this girl's eyes just made her face seem slightly awkward.

"Um…" her voice wasn't soft, but it wasn't loud either. Slowly, a small nod was Hakkai's answer. She removed her arm from her side, showing a good sized gash in the grey-blue material hugging her figure and a large stain of dark red.

Sanzo's purple eyes had flickered over to her just as she moved her arm and his attack on the two retreating nimrods increased. "You made her bleed you imbeciles! We have enough angry youkai after us; we don't need angry villagers as well!"

Hakkai tilted his head to the side however, his semi-untamable hair swaying gently down over his eye, despite the green headband tying it back. He brushed the forest shaded material of his tunic off gently before holding his hand out over the wound; it didn't seem like something a simple crashing-into would cause. That looked like a gash created from a blade… or sharpened claws; he had healed enough of them to know that they looked like.

"…_It wasn't them who cut me_…"

Everyone, including Sanzo, his harisen a half an inch from the head of the kappa, froze. What had that been? They looked at the girl who stared back in silence, her eyes widening and making her face seem even more awkward and shy. She bit her lip, which had a natural pout to it, and chewed on it softly. Why were they staring?

"What did you say?" the monk asked, turning away from the aching duo at his feet, his tan robes fluttering slightly with his smooth movement and the precious sutras around his shoulder shifting a bit.

The girl just stared back in confused silence, before her facial expression became understanding. She rubbed her head slightly, shifting her pointed hat backwards on her unnaturally straight chocolate brown hair, which came to her mid back at full length.

"_Gomen…_" she shook her head back and forth several times, "I said it wasn't them who injured my side."

Hakkai was the first to figure it out; she had been speaking a different language! And even now, speaking their language, the words came out slightly hesitated and with a vague accent which, luckily, didn't hinder their understanding of the words coming from her mouth. The blonde monk had been second in the race to figure out what the hell she had just said and nodded a little bit, but then frowned.

The healer shook his head slightly, then reached forward and hovered his hand over the gash on her side. Her eyes turned to him curiously, watching what he was doing as a subtle green light took life under his fingers, and the gash slowly closed over and was no more.

"There, all better." He stated obviously in a pleasant voice as the girl lightly touched her side, her eyes a little wide in wonderment. Sanzo grumbled and brushed off his robes, his fingers lightly trailing over the gold chest plate he was wearing as he turned away, but before he could say anything, Goku opened his big mouth first.

"Hey lady, what's with the weird clothing?"

"Goku!" Hakkai exclaimed, looking over at the monkey with that older brother look like, 'that was rude!'

However, Goku wasn't at fault, to him the girl's clothing was rather bizarre, for she wore a tight fitted, long sleeve button up shirt that was made of a grey-blue color with midnight blue accents, gloves and a pointed cloth hat to match. Her sleeves made a drooping bell shape, draping over her hands slightly. The thing that really made her outfit odd, at least to the monkey, was the skirt. It simply burst from her hips like a waterfall of night-sky blue, the hem nearly brushing against the dirt of the road they stood on. Further more the skirt split open in the front, exposing a white underskirt that ruffled more than the over skirt. A chain hung around her waist, falling down over the skirt at an angle and little symbols and dangles hung off it, just adding to the overall oddness of her appearance.

Sanzo's outfit was the oddest thing the monkey had seen before, but he had gotten used to it over the years after the monk had freed him from the stone prison. The tan robes of his mentor, the golden chest plate that signified his high priesthood, the chakra on his forehead that was the sign of Buddha, and the sacred Maten scriptures adorning his shoulders. Once in a while he wore his nifty crown thing, which Goku got smacked with the harisen if he called it that within earshot of the monk.

"It's all right, I suppose I do look rather odd." The girl replied softly, folding her hands in front of her. She seemed not to mind the rudeness of the monkey, although she was turning a bit red around the cheeks.

Gojyo's eyes flickered over her silently, she wasn't the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, but she was certainly one of the most out of place looking one, and that gave her a kind of subtle cuteness. Her pale skin contrasted against the darker tones of most of the people in the town, even Sanzo's skin was a shade or two darker than this girl's; she looked like a ghost! He wondered vaguely where this girl came from to get the features her face and body held. And her clothing… that was defiantly not from around here.

"All right, she's healed, everything is quiet again, let's go." The monk said gruffly, shifting his shoulders as he moved for the inn, his arms folded over his gut. The other three men just silently watched him walk fifty feet down the road and then enter the door that had a sign hanging above it that stated "Bade Inn".

"Yeah…" Gojyo muttered softly, stretching his arms over his head and arching his back as well to continue the stretch. His lanky form relaxed once more before he walked over to the girl whom Hakkai was making sure she wasn't hiding anymore wounds from him. He leaned down, looking her in the face. "Hey, before anything else happens, what's your name?"  
"Eh…" the girl bit down on the hem of her glove, thinking. "Eh…"

"_Watashi wa…. desu." _Gojyo helped softly, motioning with his hand during the pause between 'wa' and 'desu', trying to hint that's where she put her name. Tilting his head to the side, the subtle though that language barriers sometimes sucked crossed his mind. His long wine-colored hair fluttered down and over his shoulders, falling over his blue head band easily.

"Ah." The girl gave a smile of thanks. "My name is Rinze."

"Rinze…" Gojyo repeated softly, not a common name at all; in fact, this was the first time he ever heard it. He extended his hand toward her, giving a grin. "I'm Gojyo, Sha Gojyo. That is Cho Hakkai, and Son Goku, AKA monkey." He added in, motioning to the respective owners of the names and they gave little waves, smiling. However Goku was tilting his head back and forth, as if he was sensing something was very wrong.

"What is it, Goku?" Hakkai asked softly, resting his hand down on the youth's shoulder. He had learned that sometimes Goku's instincts lead him in a direction no one else would even notice. The monkey's gold eyes turned up to look into the healer's face as he replied, softly,

"She's still bleeding."

"What?"

"There are more wounds on her, but they are hidden… maybe under that… big poofy skirt thing." Goku said, looking back at the girl, who was shifting back on forth on her feet, wincing with every transfer of her weight. Hakkai gave a nod then walked forward, holding out his hand. He should've known himself,

"Rinze, may I ask how you got that gash on your side?" he asked gently, not wanting to scare her by stating he knew she had more wounds. That would make most young ladies uncomfortable.

"…a battle," was the short reply, the girl's grey eyes looking back at Hakkai, half lidded. Gojyo stood up straight again, blinking.

"Youkai?" he inquired, his eyes narrowing a bit as she nodded. Youkai's claws would've caused more slices than just that one, there must be more. Most youkai had greater speed than the average human, and thus were able to plant multiple strikes on someone's person before they could retaliate. Hakkai seemed satisfied and he extended his hand farther out to the girl, for her to take.

"Miss, I must ask that you come with us for a little while. We know you have more injuries on your person, so there is no use lying to us. We only want to help you," he stated gently, watching her. She fidgeted, and wrung her skirt a little bit before reaching out and placing her fragile hand in Hakkai's warm one.

"Don't worry, toots." Gojyo flashed a charming grin, "he can't hurt a fly, you'll be okay."


	2. Scene 2: Arguement Realization

Upon the rustling of the four entering the inn, Hakkai smoothly leading Rinze by the hand, the monk looked up from the table he had been sitting at and his eyes narrowed. He slowly closed his paper and removed his glasses, an eyebrow twitching several times. Rising to his feet he placed the paper down on the table.

"…what's going on? I thought I said to leave her alone…" he said, his voice tinged with suppressed anger.

Goku looked up at the taller blonde haired man, his gold eyes meeting with Sanzo's droopy but angered purple ones. He heard Hakkai move for the stairs to the upper floor, leading Rinze away from the angry monk quickly.

"We've found out she's got more cuts…" he explained, and Gojyo, standing behind and slightly to the side of the monkey, nodded in emphasis.

"They're hidden though," he added in, tucking his hands into his pants and leaning back slightly. "I'm thinking under her skirt on her legs… so…" he then turned and went upstairs as well, just to make sure there was nothing seriously wrong with the girl, ignoring the monk's grumbles and glares at his back.

"Fine… heal her and then we're going to carry on, got it!" he snapped, picking up his reading glasses. He was one of those rare people who could pull off reading glasses.

"But... Sanzo!" the monkey, who had remained in the room, exclaimed. "What if they come after her again?"

A good question, but the monk seemed unfazed by that very likely situation.

"Demons always come after us and no one lends a hand…why should we be concerned about her?" he replied coolly, pulling out a cig and holding it up to his lips, producing his lighter and holding it up to the end of the cigarette.

"Because she's all alone…." Goku answered softly, looking at the ground. Sanzo was going to really be pissed off with this argument with him, the monk was used to his orders being ninety percent obeyed by the monkey, and the ones not obeyed were small ones anyways. This was something HUGE that they were discussing, and Goku's stubbornness was starting to match the monk's, Goku half expected Sanzo to yell 'urusai' and start slamming him with the harisen.

On the contrary, that statement caused Sanzo, even for the briefest moment, to pause. He then covered it up by lighting up his cigarette with a simple flick of his thumb over the lighter. His eyes were closed as he took a long drag on the cig, buying himself time to come up with a cold and unfeeling answer.

"She survived, didn't she?" Not a very powerful answer, but Sanzo's tone of voice gave it power. His eyes looked at Goku firmly, shaded slightly by his long eyelashes, which seemed to soften the shape of his eye, but it was the color that gave him the strength in his gaze. Some people called them demon eyes, but Sanzo didn't care to listen, they were eyes, they helped him see and smack things that pissed him off.

"Barely... that huge gash on her side... plus the other ones I smelt... they probably only damaged her now... letting her bleed... then would track her down once she was in the inn and resting... then come back when the town was sleeping..." the monkey spoke softly, but with that rare strength of his that said he knew what he was talking about, for once. "I know they would've followed up! They wouldn't just let her go after that much damage, those precise hits hidden under her clothing!" His hands clenched at his sides, arms stiffened and heels on his hands pushed downward toward the ground. Yes the monkey had reverted away from the maturity he had caught for a brief moment there as he stomped his foot against the wooden floor.

The monk stopped, his cigarette hovering just in front of his lips, his eyes open, but narrowed. Damn, Goku had a point this time; even he couldn't ignore the monkey's primal logic, no matter how cold he was trying to make himself. Sometimes he hated how his companions broke down his defenses slowly and annoyingly, sometimes making him seem cruel, hell maybe he was truly cold-hearted right to the bone.

"Sanzo…" the monkey continued earnestly, wanting to get an answer out of the wayward monk faster, "you can't deny this is odd. Youkai always have different tastes… but, they always get excited when they see something rare… exotic." Goku was using words Sanzo didn't even know the monkey had in his vocabulary! "This girl… Rinze is her name… smells like mists and moors… landscapes that don't exist here."

"And how would you know what mists and moors smell like? Huh? You've never been anywhere without me." The agitated Sanzo shot at the youth, his amethyst eyes hardening once more as his cold demeanor took more power. The monkey rubbed the back of his head, staring at the ground as a brief look of confusion passed through his golden eyes.

"Well…" he started slowly, "I had a dream one time… and I was in a place like I had never seen before. The ground was covered in green grass… but there was a grayish kind of fog around me, making it hard to see more than ten feet ahead of me in any direction. But it wasn't like a poisonous fog, more like a natural one… I felt like I was in a rain cloud, everything was so wet… and the smell of the place was so distinct… I could actually smell it. And I've never smelt it again until now… it hovers around Rinze-chan."

Sanzo grumbled softly at that answer, nearly biting clean through his cigarette in frustration. This was a losing battle, the blonde monk knew that, but he wasn't about to give up that easily. He turned over the facts in his head, the girl had been attacked by Youkai, but that's not necessarily a rare occurrence, so what? How many times had they been attacked by demons and lived through it? But the monkey had brought up the point of her traveling alone…

So she had been hit by Youkai, damaging her side and ripping her shirt. She also had other wounds on her as well, hidden under her skirt… _which wasn't ripped! _Sanzo's droopy eyes widened as that truth crossed over his mind, unless she had changed before—no that didn't work. Why would she change her skirt but not the shirt which so obviously exposed her wound? He pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and smashed it into the ash tray on the table near him, twisting it back and forth.

"Damnit, monkey, I hate to admit it but you may be right this time." He muttered angrily, turning toward the stairs and moving to go up them. Hakkai would be able to confirm his suspicions if he was healing her right now. Goku looked clueless, what had his master figured out that he had missed?

"Wait… me? Right?" he asked quizzically, turning after the monk to follow. "I'm right!"

"Yes," Sanzo flipped around, his gun drawn and placed it against Goku's forehead. "And if you try to use it against me later, I'll kill you."

"No, no!" The monkey threw his arms over his head, "I'm good!"

"I thought so." Sanzo replied smoothly as he moved down the hall. He placed a good kick on Gojyo's side to knock him away from the door he was standing in front of and knocked on the previously guarded door. "Hakkai?"

"Hey!" the kappa growled, even if Sanzo was now ignoring him. "What was that for, you damn shitty monk!"

Hakkai, who had been inside the room Sanzo was outside of, healing their new friend looked up, for once losing concentration of his chi and it died. He hadn't been expecting Sanzo to start banging on the door. Checking to make sure Rinze was all right with the interruption first, Hakkai turned to the door.

"It's open."

Sanzo opened the door quickly and slid in, planting another kick in Gojyo's gut before he could get into the room. This was something he needed to discuss with Hakkai without Mr. Red-Haired-Knight-In-Shining-Armor hovering around. The kappa, however, was not willing to admit defeat so quickly when it was a women possibly getting hurt, he lunged back for the door once more. Unfortunately for the red-headed man, the cold barrel of a Smiths and Weston was put firmly in his mouth.

"You take one step in this room and I'll take this gun, shove it up your ass and kill you that way!" The monk snarled softly, his thumb pulling back the hammer of the gun. Gojyo's red eyes widened drastically, that threat always scared the shit out of him and he pulled back.

"Sorry to disturb!" he grabbed the handle of the door and slammed it shut as faster as he could.

Swiftly walking over to the healer, the priest stopped right next to him, shoulder against shoulder with Hakkai so his mouth was blocked from the girl and speaking softly.

"She was raped… wasn't she?"


	3. Scene 3: Wiccan What?

Hakkai's eyes closed, he took a deep breath then replied, speaking quickly. He knew their language was Rinze's second language, so speaking fast and softly would keep her out of the loop.

"Luckily, no." was the answer, "she was able to fight them off long enough to get away. However, due to all the blood, they would've been able to track her to here."

So the monkey had been right… that really made Sanzo feel 100 better… not.

"So then how did she get gash marks on her legs, underneath her skirt, which," Sanzo continued, his voice elevating just a bit. "is un-ripped!"

Hakkai held up his hand, a signal for Sanzo that he was getting too loud. Rinze was staring at them, her eyes a bit wide at the moment. There was a simple explanation to Sanzo's question; he just needed to have the space between the monk's rants to say it.

"The skirt she wears makes it very difficult to run…"

"Then why does she wear it…"

"so, because of that, when she does need to run she picks up the material of the skirt in her hands and takes off, exposing her legs as targets." Hakkai finished as if the blonde man in front of him hadn't said a single word.

"Goku was right…" the monk muttered softly, his eyes partially narrowed. If she were to stay here, the youkai would come and attack the whole town, not just her. That would just be an annoyance, having to root through the town and find all the demons, like hell they'd just leave with the possible youkai or two still wandering around to cause trouble. "She'll have to come with us…"

"Sanzo…?" the healer looked down slightly at the blonde monk with slightly widened eyes. The monk _never _did something like this before, it made him wonder if his friend was ill. He just shook his head and looked at the girl silently, his eyes narrowed slightly.

"I know… you don't need to say anything about it." The blonde man snapped softly, looking at Hakkai again. "If we leave her here, the youkai will come and attack the whole town, plus I'll have you, Goku and Gojyo on my back about it and I don't.want.that. If we take her along, _for a little while_¸ the youkai will track us and the kappa and monkey can have fun slicing them to shreds. Besides…" His voice trailed off as his amethyst-colored eyes traveled over her outfit and appearance.

"Besides…?" the healer asked softly, tilting his head to the side. His hair swayed down over his eyes again, but he didn't bother to push it back.

"She's some sort of priestess."

"What?" Hakkai turned back to the girl who looked up at them silently with her silvery-grey eyes. She gave a meek smile, lifting her hand and gesturing a small wave.

"My master…" Sanzo looked away, up at the ceiling as he winced slightly at the memory. "He told me one time that there are many different beliefs and religions than just our own. He said they have different powers, and different morals, but they should be respected all the same."

Hakkai nodded slowly, watching the monk turn back to face them. He didn't press anything, that area was always very touchy for Sanzo, especially while it was raining. The healer himself didn't have very fond feelings for the rain… perhaps that was the reason they always stayed in the same room during those stormy nights on their journey.

"_Wiccan_," a faint voice spoke up from the bed. Rinze had apparently been able to follow the whole conversation between the two men. She had her knees brought up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. Her chin rested down against the midnight color of her skirt over her knees and tucked some of her long straight hair behind her ear.

"What?" Sanzo stared at her intently, even thought she spoke their language quite fluently, he had NO idea what 'wick-can' meant.

"That's my… religion… it's… oh, what's the word…"

"Called?" Hakkai offered, tilting his head.

"Named?" Sanzo said at the same time, folding his arms into his tan sleeves.

"Yes! It's called Wicca, and the followers are Wiccan." She finished, closing her eyes as she tilted her head to the side.

"Never heard of it…" Sanzo grumbled softly, snorting. "and you're a priestess of it."

"Not exactly… we're not really called priestesses or priests," Rinze said softly, smoothing her skirt out over her thighs. "But I guess you could say that. Some people mostly refer to us as witches."

"Why?" Hakkai took a seat next to her on the bed, resting his heel on the wooden bed frame. "When I hear witch I usually think of some... ugly old crow… ha-ha." He chuckled pleasantly. "And you, my dear, are not some ugly old crow."

Rinze smiled slightly, looking away from them out of the corner of her eye as a light blush brushed her pale cheeks. She wrung her skirt a little bit, wriggling gently on the bed.

"Well, from where I come from." She said gently, "Most people follow the Christian religion, where there is one god and then there is the devil. Devil is supposedly bad. Then those who follow the Wicca religion… the ones who have the magical blood at least, supposedly sold their souls to the devil to get them."

Sanzo snorted again, "Something different that they can't explain and they automatically think it's a bad thing. Sounds like people in your land aren't any different from people here."

"YOU DAMN MONKEY GIMME THAT BACK!" The calm, contemplative air was shattered as the kappa's outrage flared through it. There were some thuds before the sound of pounding feet up the stairs to the second floor. Sanzo's eye twitched before he turned in a flourish to the door and stormed to it.

"I'm going to kill them bo--!" He threw open the door and was instantly run over as the monkey raced into the room, and jumped up landing on the bed.

"Hey! How are you feeling!" he asked the girl happily, quite close to her face at the moment. Rinze leaned back, her eyes widening a little bit at the sudden movement.


	4. Scene 4: Tripping and Planning

"I'm feeling much better now, thank you." Rinze answered the monkey gently, who was still right up in her face. He didn't know much about personal space, except he wanted as much of it as possible between himself and the red-haired man who just entered the room, stepping over the downed monk.

"God damn it monkey!" The harisen came flying out of no where and landed perfectly on the back of the monkey's head, which, in chain reaction, sent his head flying forwards and pressing his face right between the bulges of the Wiccan priestess' breasts. Her eyes widened drastically and her face flushed a brilliant color of rose.

"Goku!"

"It wasn't me!" the monkey pulled back, not knowing exactly what it was that he had done wrong, but he knew it must've been something. He put his arms firmly over his head to avoid another fan-beating.

Gojyo was snickering, his hands tucked into his pockets and a cigarette held delicately between his lips. The monkey had yet to reach puberty in his mind, so no wonder he didn't think he had done something wrong… DAMN! If he tried anything Sanzo would blast him, and that was so unfair.

"I-it's all right." Rinze stammered, her accent growing thicker due to being flustered. "It was and accident."

"Apologize now, monkey!" the monk whacked Goku off the head with the harisen again, growling. The stupid chimp needed to start using that dust-covered brain of his.

"Urm... okay." Goku muttered back before turning to look up at Rinze, his golden eyes growing all cute and large. "I'm sorry Rinze-chan."

The girl laughed pleasantly, closing her eyes happily as she was apologized to. Her cheeks were still flushed with her embarrassment, but it was now a soft tinge of pale pink. Reaching out she rested her hand over the monkey's hair,

"Apology accepted."

"Yes!" Goku jumped up and down happily, smiling.

"Sanzo," Hakkai said softly, back in conversation with the monk on what course of action to take with Rinze. "I suggest not leaving her alone for now, but she does need some rest. Despite being able to heal wounds, I cannot restore blood lost."

"Ooohh!" The kappa leaned in over Sanzo's shoulder. "She can stay in my room."

"I think not," his gun came up and without even looking the barrel was pushed against the water sprite's nose. "You honestly think I'll let you stay in the same room as her, alone?"

"Hey, gotta have hope, don't-cha?" was the answer from the perverted man.

"I think we should just let her sleep alone and get rooms adjacent to hers on the left, right and across the hall." Hakkai offered, resting his hands on either arm, folding them over his chest.

"Right, but one of them is going to be empty if he keeps this up!" Sanzo's eyes half closed in exasperation as he pushed the gun more against the kappa's nose. Gojyo stopped leaning on the monk's shoulder and backed up a little bit.

"Shh!" Goku hissed suddenly, and the three taller men looked over toward him.

Rinze had curled up onto her side, her arms around the pillow. Her skirt was laid out over the bed in the shape of a fan, the material like a cushion due to petticoats under it made of a lighter material. Her toes just barely peeked out from under the hem of the skirt, covered in black and purple boots. She looked peaceful at that time, her breathing deep and even as what ever dreams a young Wiccan priestess has fluttered through her mind.

"I think we should let her sleep, and send someone out to go get some food." Hakkai whispered softly, not wanting to wake her up.

"You go, I'll stay here." The monk replied, closing his eyes as Hakkai nodded and took the monkey's elbow to lead him out of the room. Gojyo made a 'tch' noise, snorting softly.

"Yeah, keep the women all to yourself---"

"OUT!" Sanzo landed a perfected kick on the kappa's middle back and the half-blood went flying out of the room. Rinze shifted, stretching her legs slightly to expose that they were quite twiggy and the skin was delicate and pale before curling up again, hiding her legs once more. The monk watched intently, making sure he hadn't inadvertently woken her up.

The unorthodox monk hadn't, she continued to sleep peacefully. His purple eyes trailed over her appearance once more, before he walked over. One side of his lip twitched downward slightly, but he turned away once more and went over to the window, walking the four strides before sitting down on the cushion there. As his mind wandered over different topics, he was always 90 percent aware of what was going on within the room.

The monk could register what every movement in the room was, what every sound was caused by. A soft rustling filled his ears, the girl's skirt as she moved slightly in her sleep. Soon a creaking registered in his mind; it was just a 'house sound.' Whistling started; just the wind against the slight crack in the window. An odd 'mmppf" noise was once from Rinze in her sleep. How many times had he heard that noise from the monkey when he was having a dream?

Although from the girl, it sounded more… unsettled. Sanzo looked over at her once more… was she having a nightmare?


	5. Scene 5: Serpents and Showers

"Hrn…" Sanzo grumbled softly, rising to his feet and walked over to the bed once more. Why was the girl was shifting so much? Every ten seconds he could hear her skirts moving around.

The monk stood silently beside the bed and looked down at the sleeping figure of the Wiccan priestess. His eyebrow lifted up as he saw her skirt shift… but it wasn't a big movement, such as a leg would cause, only a small lump moved and turned making the midnight color of the skirt flutter and shift. There was something… in her skirt… that wasn't her legs… WHAT THE HELL! Something ALIVE was in her skirt, some kind a creature! What was wrong with this image? MANY THINGS!

In a flash he had his Smiths & Weston out and slowly prodded the lump with the barrel of it. In response to the poking the lump let out a weird warking kind of noise before it started to migrate down towards the hem of Rinze's skirt. Sanzo carefully followed the moving lump with his gun, his purple eyes following it. What the fuck would be hiding in a girl's skirt?

Soon enough a black, reptilian head protruded from the hem of her skirt. Starting over its peaceful amethyst eyes was a graceful fringe of black that went up to the back of its head before a mane of soft purple fur came from the fringe. It traveled down its neck, or that part of the neck he could see before it vanished under Rinze's skirt. Slowly it craned its neck around to look up at the monk who had so rudely poked it. It made a rather odd peeping noise like it had been having a nice dream.

"…the fuck?" What in the hell was that thing? Was it a dragon…?

The creature slowly clambered out from Rinze's skirts, exposing a sleek body with four legs, and then a pair of wings. Unlike the while dragon that served as their jeep, this dragon didn't have its fore legs devoted to wings. Its long tail flicked before curling slightly around itself as it stared up at Sanzo in silence.

"Her name is _Meian._" Rinze's voice suddenly said and Sanzo was uncomfortably aware now that she was staring at him, still lying quite still. He frowned a bit and put his gun away in a smooth, wanna-be casual motion.

"Light and darkness?" he asked softly, that's what Meian meant in his language. Rinze nodded a few times and he snorted softly, running a hand over his hair lightly. "By the way, before you pass out again, my name is Genjo Sanzo."

"Rinze…" she smiled a little bit, sitting up now and stretching her arms up over her head, arching her back. She had a few smears of dirt on her cheeks that Sanzo just noticed standing closer to her now. Also, there was sand in her hair, obvious signs of heavy travel.

"Listen…" he started, he wanted to offer her to let her get cleaned up without sounding like Gojyo… but sometimes Gojyo sounded so casual with his perversions it was hard not to. "If you'd like to get cleaned up... you know shower... get that sand out of your hair, you're more than welcome to." He lifted up a hand and motioned toward the bathroom in a half-assed manner.

"Oh. Okay," the Wiccan priestess pushed herself to her feet and brushed her skirt off a little bit before walking toward the door.

"There should be towels in the closet in there." The monk said after her, heading back toward the window to gaze out of it once more. Where in the fuck were Hakkai and Goku? He vaguely heard the bathroom door shut, a light squeak from a handle turning, before there rush and pattering of the water as it rushed from the shower head. Looking over a few minutes later, Sanzo saw little puffs of steam escaping from under the door from the heat of the shower. He made a slight face and pulled out a cigarette. Okay, no more thinking on that subject.

A soft peep made Sanzo hesitate in lighting his cigarette. Meian was flying in circles over his head before alighting daintily on his shoulder, giving an odd sounding purr. The monk sighed heavily through his nose before sticking his cig back in the box and staring out the window once more. Apparently this wasn't what the little black dragon had wanted and soon she was rubbing her head and upper neck against his jaw. She made a cooing noise, her soft mane brushing his ear lightly.

"What do you want?" Sanzo snapped softly, but then sighed heavily once more. Damn him and being an animal magnet, damn the soft spot for critters. Ah well, at least no one else was around right now to see him softly tilt his head into the dragon's rubbing and nuzzled the little critter gently. Meian started doing her odd, reptilian purrs as she rubbed her head against his nuzzle. "Eh… you're not so bad, huh?"

His hand came up and he rubbed his index finger under the petite dragon's chin, scratching it after. Meian responded by tilting her head up, stretching slightly. A new sound started in Sanzo's ears and it took him a few moments to register what it was. It was singing.

Now it wasn't like heavenly voices raining down from above onto Sanzo's auditory system, but it wasn't like nails on a chalkboard either. It wasn't loud, or soft, but it had a simple, soothing tone to it. The monk turned and looked toward where the voice was coming from; the bathroom.

It was Rinze's voice.


	6. Scene 6: Lullaby and a Request

Sanzo listened silently to the singing that was coming from the bathroom. He sighed softly; it sounded something like a lullaby. Just from the soft tone and the steady rhythm of the notes. Of course, he couldn't understand it, because she was singing it in her language. Maybe once she got out of the shower he'd asked her to translate it.

Suddenly he got plagued by memories of his childhood, the lullaby serving as background music to the flash back music video. Only in his mind it sounded distorted, stopping and restarting at something he had already heard only a brief second before, or what he thought was only a second. A wise, but kind face floated in his mind's eye, that familiar smile…

Suddenly the lullaby was gone and any sense of reality that he still could cling to, had she stopped singing? And when Rinze did… he lost his hand hold. Spatters of blood appeared on his robes and hands as he stared down at them, then the shouting and the panicking. The crimson liquid of life rolled over the floor and Sanzo's eyes slowly lifted upward, toward the source of the blood---

"Sanzo? Sanzo-sama?"

The soft, timid voice pierced through the delusions like a shaft of light in the darkness. The monk blinked furiously, looking around and took a deep breath or two. No blood… no screaming… only the strong scent of lavender and honey that was pouring out of the bathroom; the door was slightly ajar. A pair of thunder cloud eyes was peering around the side of the wooden door, the owner hidden modestly behind the cliché censoring device that was the door.

"Did you just call me—" Sanzo started softly, before waving his hand. "Do you need something…?"

The ends nodded slowly. "In my bag… it's near the bed. There should be an extra shirt, so I don't have to put on the ripped one. Would you mind grabbing it for me? It's grey… with the dark blue accents"

"Eh…?" The priest looked around a little then spotted the simple canvas bag before walking over to it. He heard the door shut gently as he knelt down and tugged the bundle toward him. Hesitating to give a brief prayer to anything that would listen that the shirt was right on top and he didn't find something else first, Sanzo opened up the bag and released a silent, relieved sigh as he saw the smoke colored material with midnight accents along it.

Grabbing it, Sanzo pulled it out and quickly shut the flap on the bag before he saw anything else, although the faint image of something with lace had imprinted itself into his mind already from just a brief peripheral vision spotting. He swallowed; no… it was just a handkerchief or something. He walked smoothly over to the bathroom door and knocked on it a few times.

"I found it."

The door opened a crack and Rinze's thin fingered hand reached out for the shirt. Sanzo played servant for once and placed it into her searching hand, his eyes closed halfway as the brief thought of "What would Gojyo do if he was in this room right now?" flittered through his mind. Good thing it was him and not that perverted kappa, yup.

"_Domo arigato…"_

"_Do_ _itashi mashite_" Sanzo replied softly, watching the door close before turning away once more. He heard the door open and he looked over his shoulder as Rinze walked out of the bathroom, her hair holding a shinier and healthier quality to it now. He also noticed a pendent she wore around her neck that had four separate stones in it in the four cardinal directions. Purple was north, gold was south, east was red, and west was green.

The acute smell of food washed up into the inn suddenly as the sound of the front door opening and closing happened. There was a loud, excited scream of,

"FOOD!"


	7. Scene 7: Taste of Power Werfen

"Got enough food?" Sanzo grumbled softly as he took a seat that had been set up in one of the larger rooms for them. This was going to be Hakkai's and Goku's room that night, but for now it served as the meeting room because it was the biggest. The monkey grinned broadly, bouncing in his chair.

"Well Goku made a very valid comment that Rinze-chan was very thin," Hakkai inputted pleasantly, closing his eyes as he smiled. "So we decided to get a little extra food just in case!"

"Yeah right," the kappa strolled into the room, hands tucked into his pockets and cigarette held delicately in his lips. "More like extra food for the monkey."

"We got ya beer!"

"Beer?" Gojyo seemed to perk up and grinned, taking a can off the six-pack and looked back and forth "huh? Extra food, oh yeah she'll eat it all!"

"Just shut up and sit down!" Sanzo snapped, gripping the table edge in his hands to keep from attacking. He only withheld himself because in order to get to the kappa he would've had to bowl over Rinze, and that was a no-no.

The meal passed along calmly for the most part, Rinze had trouble with the chop sticks, fumbling once in a while. Sanzo held up his hand and took hers and adjusted the chopsticks in her fingers, a little frown on his features.

"It was buggin' me." He said swiftly, refusing to admit that he had actually just been nice. Rinze grew a little more graceful as the dinner proceeded, and the inevitable happened.

"Monkey! What do you think you're doing with that egg roll!"

"I'm eatin' it! And I get your rice from this morning!"

"For what!"

"You cheated!"

"You touch my rice I'll knock your head off!"

"You couldn't even catch me you flea-bitten kappa!"

Sanzo put a hand over his eyes, his finger tips against his forehead as he took deep, calming breaths. But they didn't help to calm him down; a vein pulsed on his forehead as his eye twitched several times.

There was a crashing noise as Goku made a mad escape from the table with Gojyo's entire plate, and the kappa wasn't that far behind him. They ran out of the room, in a series of chases down and up the stairs and through several other rooms.

The now very pissed off monk rose to his feet smoothly and drew his gun from within the folds of his robes. He strode toward the door, intent on killing the next one to pass by the door. Unfortunately for him, Goku came in before he went out and the monkey basically plowed down the priest in his escape from the kappa. He surveyed the room intently for a hiding place and found the perfect one;

Underneath the many folds of Rinze's skirt.

Goku rushed forward and dove, sliding along the ground and under Rinze's chair, tugging her skirt a little bit to become a curtain around the chair for him to hid in. The girl slowly blinked, unsure of what happened and she looked down, tilting her head to the side. Gojyo had run in to see Goku's hand vanish under Rinze's skirt and his eyes widened.

"Monkey! What the hell are you doing! Get out from under there!" He went on the search for the monkey under the material of the skirt.

Poor Rinze, having not be able to follow along with the entire dialog and didn't understand what was really going on. All she knew was that someone had run under her skirt and now someone was reaching under it. So, she hit the panic button in her mind and she threw out her hand, yelling out a single, simple word.

"Werfen!" Sparkles swirled out over and around her hand and both Goku and Gojyo were ejected from the room, both out the window. Sanzo, having just gotten himself to a sitting position, saw that and blinked slowly. What the hell?

Rinze was taken deep breaths, brushing her skirt off slowly.


	8. Scene 8: Reality Blurring

"Not to sound rude or anything, but…" Sanzo rested a hand on Rinze's shoulder, staring down at her intently. "What in the HELL was that!"

"What was what?" she looked up at him with her bright grey eyes, clearly confused. Sanzo's eyebrow twitched lightly, wondering vaguely if she was trying to be cute or if she just didn't understand.

"You just sent Gojyo… and Goku… out the window."

"What!" She looked over to the window then rushed over, leaning out of it slightly, which lifted up her back end in the air slightly as she rested her hands on the window sill. "Oh my… I didn't mean to send them that far! I'm sorry!" She called out the window.

"WHooOO! DO IT AGAIN!" Goku's excited yell came back as a reply as there was a groan from the second person turned projectile from Rinze's little spell. Hakkai chuckled softly, closing his eyes as he smiled his genial smile. It seemed there was much more to little Rinze than what first met the eye. She continued to lean out the window, trying to make sure no one had been seriously injured in their descent to the dirt ground.

"Are you all right!" She called, her eyes widening a little bit as she almost leaned a bit too far. A hand came down on her waist and tugged her back away from the window.

"The bakas are fine, now get back in here before you fall out and smash your head open!" It was the monk, an annoyed look on his face at the moment as he thought all of this through.

So Rinze could do some type of magic through saying different words. Although he didn't understand at all what word that had been. A frown graced his features before he realized that she had sent the kappa and the monkey hurtling from the window. Slowly the frown twitched and reversed itself and he snickered.

"She could be useful." He stated, folding his hands into his sleeves as he ignored the semi-shocked look from Hakkai. The chi user tilted his head slowly to one side, then shrugged his shoulders and looked up at Rinze.

"Well I suggest we all calm down, and get ready for a good night's rest." He rose to his feet, starting to pile the empty dishes together to be taken to the kitchen and cleaned. The soft clinking of plates and silver ware was the only sound filling the room as Rinze joined in the clean up effort. Sanzo drew a cigarette out from the box and stuck it between his lips, striding over to the window and looking down at the kappa, who was now heading toward the closest bar, and the monkey, who was now rushing back into the inn. He was probably hoping to get another ride out the window, stupid chimp.

A faint happy peeping rang in Sanzo's ears and he turned to look at what it was. Rinze was sitting on one of the beds in the room, her black dragon nested in her hair contently, and Hakaryu was climbing and coiling himself around her neck. The blonde man slowly tilted his head to one side, watching the easy smile break through on the Wiccan's pale face, and the dragons nuzzling up against her. She was such an odd creature… ah well, no time to think about that now, it was time to go sit by the window in his room and stare out of it for a good hour or two before finally getting some shut eye.

The night was warm, but a cooling breeze traced the town like a breath of fresh air. There were crickets about, chiming their annoyingly beautiful songs. Everything in the inn was still and silent, something that Sanzo didn't trust at all. He had just settled down to sleep, but it seemed to be evading him. That uneasy feeling that started in his gut and traveled through his body told him all was not well this night for him or his party, which now included the shy Wiccan.

"Ugn…" he rolled over again, burying his face halfway into the pillow as he tucked his arms under it. His fingers touched upon the cold metal of the revolver stationed under the soft pillow. Usually he kept it on the bedside table, but tonight it had found its way under his pillow.

What was that noise?

A soft scuffling from the next room over… Rinze's room! He sat up, his purple eyes staring intently at the wall that separated his room from the lady's. Smoothly he got to his feet, scooping up the sutras but was too fixated on what was in Rinze's room to pick up anything else.

Sanzo found himself outside the door to her room without even remembering exactly how he had gotten there. He stared silently at the door, all was still inside again. There was no noise from the inside… well her bed was against the opposite wall so he wouldn't be able to hear her breathing even if he tried.

Suddenly a horrible stench filled his nose, one he was all to accustom to. The smell of fresh blood just spilled from the flesh. His eyes were dragged down to the floor and he saw a dark puddle pooling around his feet from under the crack in the door. What was that… it couldn't be…?

The door was thrown open, his mind refusing to believe what he almost knew what had happened. He froze in the doorway, his mouth slowly opening, his eyes widening.

The Wiccan, laid out on her bed almost like she was still in pain, was a mangled mess of blood. He could only see her eyes clearly, those clear grey eyes, still flooded with the horror to what she had woken up to. Everything else was blood… blood…

"No…" he rushed over, she wasn't dead yet! He knelt down by the bed, reaching out to her and pressing his hand over her neck, his fingers feeling for the artery. But as soon as he touched her skin he had to pull his hand back, she was freezing cold. She was gone. "I… couldn't save her…"

With a jolt Sanzo sat straight up in bed, staring blankly at the wall in front of him as he fought to regain his breathing. A cold sweat was trickling down his face and he reached his hand up to put against his forehead, he then hurriedly pulled it away to stare at it, no blood… just his hand.

"…Rinze!"


	9. Scene 9: Stealing the Doll

The semi-confused and partially drowsy priest stumbled up from his bed, grabbing the revolver from its station under the pillow and headed for the door. The room next to him was quiet, but it had been so within his dream as well. Standing outside the door to the young Wiccan's room, Sanzo listened hard for anything inside, when he heard nothing he opened the door carefully, and peered inside.

Rinze was fine, lying on her back with one graceful arm draped over her stomach and the other hand lying on her mid thigh. There was no sign of blood, no sign of a fight. Her chest gently raised and lowered in a soft pattern, in, out, in, out, the pendent on her breast bone glittering gently. She looked like a little porcelain doll, a child's plaything that was meant to be loved and enjoyed. Her still and faint movements only added to that effect, maybe she was just a china doll… an illusion.

Entering the room, Sanzo pondered his dream, why would he dream that Rinze had been killed? And why was he so choked up about not being able to protect her? Moving closer to the bed, he knelt down and reached out, touching her cheek gently with his finger tips. She was soft… and warm. The girl was no china doll. Rinze was definitely fine, safe in her dreams.

Or that is, until Sanzo's light touch stirred her from them. Silvery-grey eyes fluttered open and blinked a few times, before turning to look up at the blonde man kneeling beside the bed. Upon seeing who it was, watching her through the darkness of the room, Rinze propped herself onto one elbow.

"Sanzo-sama?" she rubbed one of her eyes gently, looking at him with the other. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," He shook his head once, "I was just… checking up on you."

"…why?"

Sanzo shook his head again, rising to his feet once more. "Go back to sleep, everything is fine. We're leaving tomorrow, it'd be best that you have as much sleep as possible." He turned away and moved for the door as the bewildered girl slowly laid back down, snuggling into the blankets and began to fall asleep once more.

Shutting the door behind him and pressing his back to it, the monk tilted his head back and swallowed. What the hell was wrong with him? Was it just because Rinze was so different and small? That she was one person, all alone in a land she was a complete stranger to? Well, she wasn't alone anymore, but still, she was still someone isolated, even if Sanzo's little group seemed to have made her a fast friend. Goku the most, he latched onto her instantly…

Paranoia, Sanzo's middle name, settled in and he couldn't help but edge the door open a bit once more to peek inside. That dream couldn't have just been random subconscious thoughts meshing together to destroy Rinze's life in the dream world.

That window hadn't been open before.

Throwing the door open once more, Sanzo burst into the room, a livid glare aimed at the youkai that had slipped into the room. However, a second youkai that had been stationed behind the door when Sanzo had first entered to check up on the priestess lunged forward and tackled him around the middle.

"Sanzo-sama!" Rinze's voice called out as she moved to get up from the bed, the blonde man hitting the floor, stomach down, with a grunt. The first youkai, the one that had alerted Sanzo to the danger in Rinze's room, grabbed hold of her waist and pinned her arms down, grinning wickedly. He had black hair that fell in a mess over his eyes that gleamed with hunger and lust.

"No, no, pretty thing." He growled into her ear, "You're mine,"

"Ang…" Sanzo struggled against the youkai on top of him; his gun had skidded over the ground and came to a rest at Rinze's feet. The youkai weren't after his sutras? They had actually targeted Rinze directly, not as an afterthought. "What the hell--!"  
"What?" the black haired youkai asked, in a sneering tone. "Don't you know? If a youkai eats one of magical descent they gain all the power from the flesh! And this little beauty has much power…" he snickered evilly, running his tongue up Rinze's neck and she jerked, gritting her teeth.

"Let her go-!" Sanzo thrashed violently as Rinze stomped hard on the youkai's foot that held her, he let out a startled yelp but didn't release her. "Rinze..!" She was stronger than she thought; she just needed to realize it. He knew she had something else other than just that throwing spell she had used on Gojyo and Goku earlier in the day.

But the youkai that held her captive tied a gag tightly around her mouth, taking away her only chance at creating a spell. Rinze's thunderstorm colored eyes widened drastically as her stomach clenched, before giving a muffled scream as she was dragged out of the window.

Sanzo growled softly, where in the hell were the others! As the youkai on him moved to finish him, he gave a sharp jerk up and the youkai overbalanced and fell. With a quick lunge, the gun was back in Sanzo's hands and he flipped onto his side, firing a shot and decimated his enemy. Now it was time to get Rinze back, the bastards wouldn't get her… no way.


	10. Scene 10: The Law of Doll

**Scene 10: The Law of Doll**

He had failed.

Genjo Sanzo had failed himself, his team… and Rinze.

Once the priest had leapt out of the window and landed in the middle of the street he quickly scanned the area and saw… nothing. The youkai, and Rinze, was gone. He didn't know how they had vanished… but there was nothing there left to show they had even been there in the first place.

A soft glint of silver caught his eye in the street and he carefully made his way toward it, and then knelt down once there. He reached out, still holding his gun ready in his strong hand, aimed at the sky currently, and touched it with two fingers. It was warm; he picked it up carefully in his fingers and looked it over carefully. The shape of a crescent moon with a link on the tope that was snapped open.

"This was one of the charms on Rinze's chain…" he mumbled softly, rising to his feet again.

"Sanzo what are you doing out there?" Hakkai's head poked out from one of the upper story windows, staring down at the monk randomly standing in the middle of the street.

"Hakkai wake everyone up!" He snapped back, glaring up at the window. "We're moving out, NOW!"

Rinze wanted to be able to scream, she wasn't that far from Sanzo! They were up on the roof of the inn! Sanzo look up! Unfortunately, they didn't stay there. The youkai grabbed hold of her once more and tossed her over his shoulder roughly, snickering like a wicked little child who had just stolen his younger sister's favorite doll…

_"Rinze-chan it's dangerous!" The voice was behind her as she packed her rucksack to leave the area. That voice… it always came to chide her on her beliefs in that almost annoyingly pleasant and well-tempered tone. That sound… always sounding like he knew better._

_Rinze flipped around, staring at the owner of the voice with a tired gaze. His fierce blue eyes and snow white hair were the only distinct things she could see right now. "I'm tired of this… I need to get away." She said softly._

_"But Rinze, you'll just be putting yourself in danger…!"_

_"I can handle myself; it's what I was trained for." Rinze interrupted gently, giving a little sigh. _

_"I don't think you're ready for _this _Rinze! You're too fragile…" the man said, taking hold of her shoulders. "You're still just a doll for these wicked powers of yours!"_

_"…I'm leaving…I can take this anymore…" she replied carefully, not wanting to anger him. "Running and hiding from the church, it's horrible for my psyche. These powers of mine will never be 'purified,' they are part of me and they aren't evil!"  
"You could be manipulated because of these powers! Don't leave, Rinze! We can seal them away and you can live a normal life! With me..!" he shot back, still holding her shoulders tightly._

_"I'm sorry…" Rinze broke away from him, picking up her rucksack from next to the black flat topped hat lying on the bed. "I need to leave, now."_

_"Rinze don't do this!"_

_She rushed out of the room before she could hear anymore, her large skirt vanishing around the doorframe last._

_"Rinze…" the soft voice carried out after her from the room. _

_"…I'm sorry…Hazel…"_

Rinze jerked out of her flashback as she was roughly thrown onto the ground and she gave a startled yelp. That only earned insane laughter from the youkai, and a subtle soreness running along her lower back. "W-what do you want…?"

"Ha-ha!" The kidnapper cackled again, rubbing his hands together. "You, my little snow bird, will be a great help to the youkai kingdom! Your powers could enslave countless humans and destroy the dirty half-breeds that walk amongst them!"

Gojyo…? Rinze closed her eyes halfway; she had recognized him as a child of the taboo as soon as she saw him. He may be a bit of a perverted mongrel but his heart was in the right place when it came to matters of importance. Sanzo… he may have been a withdrawn high priest but… he was human. She couldn't… her gods and goddesses wouldn't allow her to!  
"My powers don't work that way!" she yelled at him, "I can't just make the powers appear they _come _from somewhere! I acquire them through the good graces of those above me! I don't command them!"

"Well maybe it's high time you learn how to, girl!" her captor snapped back, shoving her against the wall. "And watch your tone with me… you are now my toy, my play thing that must do whatever I say!"

Rinze swallowed slowly, pressing against the wall. Would she ever be anything other than just a vessel for power and destruction? She looked to the side, wrapping her arms around her stomach.

A doll's purpose in life is to bring happiness to others and do as the owner wants to cause such happiness, they cannot go against this purpose for they do not have the will nor the ability to do so.


	11. Scene 11: A New Duty

**Chapter 11: A New "Duty"**

Rinze sat quietly in the little corner she had been shoved in and apparently forgotten about. Once in a while she heard the faint squeaking of little mice and large rats that were trotting and lumbering around the hem of her skirt. She looked nothing more than a doll at the moment, appropriate of her label, still and silent until her owner would come around to play. She wasn't even aware enough to notice what kind of room she was in.

Numb and cold, that's all she felt. Vaguely she wondered if this was how a real doll felt, but then she struck out that theory instantly. A doll brought happiness to its owner, a little girl or boy, it brought smiles and joy, so it must feel warm inside. Such a noble duty for a small doll.

This was different. Completely different.

A suddenly louder squeak caught her attention, and Rinze slowly lifted up her head in time and stretched out her hands to catch the flying grey rat that had been so cruelly kicked across the floor at her. It slumped in her hands, its ribs heaving heavily, but it seemed relived all most, that it had been caught in Rinze's gentle hands instead of slamming into a cold, stone wall.

"My, my… what a lovely doll that is… all most looks like she's human…" the voice came from the direction the rat had started its flight, and it was so oily smooth that it made shivers rattle the young Wiccan's spine.

Her grey eyes slowly lifted up to see the owner of said voice, biting down subtly on her lower lip. It was a man, very lanky and he looked like he hadn't bathed in several weeks. His hair was slicked back into spikes, raven's feather black, and the cold smirk on his face hid nothing of his intent toward the woman curled up against the back wall of the small room. A long, white lab-coat dropped down to his mid-shins and under it a disheveled outfit, amazingly free of stains. In his arm was clutched a stuffed rabbit, and rectangular glasses covered his darkened eyes.

Eyes that made every muscle in Rinze's body freeze as they stared down at her with a sickening, dominate glow. She knew instantly this man had several different plans for her that did not just revolve around her inner power… it made her wish she had been born a male… but at the same time she wasn't sure that being a boy would change anything.

"Look at the little dear cower…" the man snickered to himself, as if he had just made an amusing observation, a cigarette was held delicately between his lips and moved slightly as he talked.

A soft surge of heat went through Rinze's body, she didn't care who that man was or how powerful he may be… only one person was allowed to call her "little dear" and he wasn't them. Actually… there was only one person who ever had called her it… and she didn't want to think of him at the moment!

With no gag on she was free to cast any type of spell she needed to, and with this jerk… it would be hell.

"Feu! Donnez-moi la--!"

Her hand had barely begun to come up when suddenly a black shadow was towering over her and a hand came down, pushing the index finger into her mouth so the thumb curled around and pressed hard against her cheek bone. The last sound came out as a muffled yelp as the hand squeezed and light flashed off the glasses now looming above her. She was pushed hard back into the wall, not sure how the man could've moved so fast to get her.

"Tsk tsk… what a naughty doll… trying to hurt her new owner…" again Rinze shivered at the sound of the voice. "Although… all the pretty dolly's power is in her voice, isn't it? When silent… as a doll should be… she's so lovely and defenseless…"

A sharp sting suddenly pricked into Rinze's arm and her eyes widened as they moved to see what was happened. All she could see was a now empty syringe sticking out of her arm, his thumb on the button to press what ever liquid had been in there into her veins. A high-pitched squeal came from her throat as she tried to wrench herself away, but that noise suddenly died and the Wiccan found she could not make another, no matter how hard she tried.

"Oh how adorable… she squealed! Too bad she won't be making anymore noise for a little while…" a subtle pout framed his lips, "if I had known she'd made cute little noises when she was hurt I would've just gagged her… ah well, too late now..!"

"_This man is going to kill me…" _Rinze could only stare up at him with widened eyes and a pale face.

"Ehehe… keep making that face and I'm not sure I can control myself…" he snickered again when Rinze bowed her head downwards and closed her eyes tightly. "By the way… my name is Nii, and I own you now… understand?"

Silence.

His hand came down and caught hold of her chin, wrenching her head upward to look up at him once more.

"I want a yes…" he nodded his head, "or a no..." he shook his head, treating her like some type of stupid animal. Rinze just stared, refusing to answer him at all. She would not acknowledge him as any type of superior being to her, ever. "Eh… we'll just have to work on that won't we…" the grin that plastered itself on his face made Rinze want to vomit, and obviously… a little friend of hers didn't like it either…

With as blood thirsty of a roar that a 30-oz. rat can have, the ball of grey fur lunged at Nii's hand and sank his sharp, rodent teeth into his finger, giving a strange sounding snarl afterward.

He released Rinze and lifted his hand to look at the rat now latched onto his finger, and frowned.

"A rabid rat such as this will be very bad for my precious new toy…" with that he wound up, about the fling the rat into the wall when a gloved hand snatched it away from him.

Rinze cuddled the rat close into her bosom, hiding it from Nii with both her hands and bowed her head a bit. She said nothing, she couldn't speak anyway, but she made it clear she wasn't going to let the rat go until she was dead and the critter was pried away with forceps.

She could bend the law… she just couldn't break it.

Not yet at least.

Slowly lifting her head, she looked up to see what Nii was doing, slightly surprised to find him just staring at her with a strange grin on his face. She wasn't about to just let him beat on a small critter, was that was he was grinning at? A slow lump caught into her throat… he was planning to use her powers for some… dark, and evil scheme… to spill blood.

"Get up, you're ruining your pretty dress on the floor… I have a better place for you any how…" Nii said sweetly, again only achieving the effect of making Rinze sick to her stomach.

"_Maybe…maybe Hazel had been right…" _she thought to herself sadly as she slowly rose to her feet, keeping the rat hidden from the insane man. He led her out of the room and down a hall, long, with windows on the side. Strange that there would be this beautiful hall leading into a small, dark room. Then again, it was too dark for her to properly see her surroundings.

As they traversed down the hall, Rinze's thoughts stayed on the depressive subject of her powers.

"_Maybe I should've let—" _she perked up suddenly, a soft surge of warmth flooding her body. Feu? Turning to the side, her eyes locked onto one of the windows… the feeling was coming from there! Silently falling out of step with Nii, Rinze moved to the window and peered out of it, trying to find the source of the feeling.

What she saw… was a Youkai.

It wasn't just any youkai however; he was tall and muscular, with rich crimson hair, wild in the front and fell into a ponytail falling down his back, and well tanned skin. His purple eyes were half closed, as if frustrated, reminding Rinze almost of Sanzo's eyes… His ears were long and point, with simple piercings in them, and long, sharp nails to add to the dangerous aura he gave off. His outfit wasn't fancy, a jacket, opened to show his well sculpted chest, a pair of white pants and brown boots. He had triangular markings on his face, along his cheek.

Rinze slowly lifted up her hand, and pressed it against the glass. The youkai was walking along a pathway outside of the building, and Rinze could feel Feu emanating from him in very powerful waves. There was no way Feu would hover around someone with and evil heart… for Feu was different than just the power of fire, he was the most picky in his choices who to have his aura hang around. Glancing longways for a second to see that Nii had not yet noticed her small defection, Rinze fisted her hand and slammed it against the window as hard as she could, a ring on her finger creating a loud, vibrating ringing noise.

The youkai halted, but so did Nii.

Rinze did it again, praying he saw before Nii spun around.

The youkai below slowly turned toward the building and started to lift his head to look upward at the source of the noise, his purple eyes narrowed, but curiosity was hidden behind a sharp outer appearance.

Before the demon below could get his gaze up to the window, hands came forward and wrapped around Rinze's waist and wrenched her away from the window. The movement was quick to get her away from the glass, causing her skirt to billow up and around them in a swirl of midnight colored fabric, but once away, it turned softer and a little bit sweeter.

"Does my pretty dolly want to go outside…??" It was Nii, Rinze instantly started to wriggle and squirm and try to break his hold. That damned rabbit was pressing against her side and she wanted nothing more than to just BURN it. "Well then, she shouldn't cause a ruckus and be a good little dolly. And if she's bad," his voice suddenly turned softer, that false pleasant tone leaving it for a moment, "then it'll be much, much worse for her…" His hand was sliding down her stomach, slowly, just enough to let her know where it was going.

Rinze clammed up immediately, her eyes closing tightly as she resisted the urge to fight and panic.

The Demon Prince Kougaiji stared up silently at the window where he _knew _he had heard someone pounding. His eyes narrowed faintly, he knew he heard a pounding there, but he wasn't sure if that had been movement that he saw. It had looked like a cloud of shadows moving in a frenzy around the glass, with light tinges of white... or had that been… some type of strange clothing?

"Nii…" he growled lowly in his throat, knowing of something wrong was going on it had to be that man at the root of it. With a soft snarl, he spun on his heel and swept inside, what was going on now??


	12. Scene 12: The Pleading Silence

**Scene 12: The Pleading Silence**

Soft trembles were running along the entire course of Rinze's body, bindings around her wrists and ankles left her defenseless on the top of an examination table, and bright lights nearly blinded her when they had been turned on. Shuffling and random mutters surrounded her as she turned her head as best she could to try to see what that insane man was up to. There were strange machines the likes she had never seen before and the idea of being so close to them made her very uneasy... what about that youkai? Had he heard..? Had he seen her? Those purple eyes were imprinted on her mind now, sharper than Sanzo's but still... there was nothing within them that made her cringe or withdraw.

And he had Feu's blessing!! Rinze was well aware of the fact there were other sources to gain the power of Fire than by the spirit she knew well... but there was no doubt she had felt Feu around and near that demon! It had been so powerful that she had felt it shift around her and embrace her in greeting... no one that was evil could possibly have that high of a concentration! Confusion ripped through her mind; if he was not evil, then why was he in the same building as this psychopathic doctor who was hovering around her and grinning? And what was with that bizarre bunny? It was a stuffed animal... but... Rinze could feel a strange presence from it, warm and sweet... similar to Feu but at the same time much less intense and she could not place it.

The priestess was suddenly ripped from her thoughts as the table she was on violently twisted around and moved vertical, and the lights made her dizzy and disoriented. Her head rolled down for a moment before coming up straight again and blinking her silvery eyes violently a few times to clear them from the blinding lights. Now she was very aware that Nii was hovering VERY close to her, the table held her above him slightly, so his head was level with her bust... something she was sure he had designed on purpose. His hands reached out and ran over the hem of her skirts, lifting it up and peering at the layers and layers of petticoats underneath it. Rinze, now unable to see his actions, tensed drastically as her hands clenched... what was he doing?!?!

"My..my... what strange attire..." Came his voice from under the skirt, now Rinze was fondly remembering when Goku had dove under the skirts in his attempt to hide from Gojyo.. she'd so rather have that than this right now! Her skirts dropped and swayed around her as he released them and moved away from her once more, lifting up a syringe with a long needle. "Well then, we shall see what your blood contains... perhaps that is the source of your power..."

Her blood? Was he joking?! Her eyes widened drastically when they fell upon the needle, hands clenching again as she squirmed against the bindings. A warmth spread throughout her entire body... Feu? He was coming to her swiftly, even if she had not vocally called to him..! Focusing now, she tried to plead with him to do her bidding, to destroy that syringe! She felt the heat swirl throughout her stomach than up into her chest, making her heart pound as it left and then gathered within her eyes. Destroy it... destroy...it...!

A jump and then the shattering of glass signified that, while she had not been able to destroy it personally, she had been able to heat the syringe enough so that Nii was forced to drop it. The fragile needle had shattered upon contact with the stone floor... but while this seemed to be good... now Rinze saw that he was staring at her with a rather crazed expression on his face. Perhaps it would have been better to let him take her blood... What had caused Feu to come to her so readily?

Nii's hand fell onto her thigh as he grinned wickedly up at her, "Well well... looks like my precious doll is more than she appears... I did not research you enough did I..?"

"NII!!!"

Nii turned slightly, all most casually, as he heard the voice come vibrating from down the hall. The door to the lab was shut tight, and he knew of only one person who's voice could pierce through the heavy stone. "Don't move, sweetie... and perhaps I'll let you play outside later..." he patted the Wiccan's thigh in a mock comforting way. He could not sense what she did however, and although she did not know his voice nor his name... Rinze knew exactly who was going to come through that door, just like Nii did.

The door swiftly swung open, showing that it was in fact the youkai from the courtyard. Rinze and Nii had both been correct in their assumptions of his identity, and while Rinze forced herself to show no reaction to his arrival, Nii simply grinned. He had the strange notion that his doll's pounding on the window earlier had brought the Prince to his lab, and he would deal with her later. All he needed to do now was to get Kougaiji to leave without finding out too much, luckily he had the perfect cover as he dropped his hand away from the doll.

Kougaiji's purple eyes narrowed fiercely as he easily noticed where Nii's hand had been located on the... woman? What an odd appearance... but that skirt! Dark colored, and he could see the tips of white from some type of underlying skirt. Was she the one who had been pounding on the window?? She looked so... lifeless... Not a muscle was moving, not even her chest to tell him that she had breath. Had he been fooled? "What is that?" He asked sharply, entering the room and approaching the... doll?... on the vertical table.

"My latest creation! A very lifelike doll... it would be perfect to lure the Sanzo party to their demise... don't you think so?" The professor's voice was oily and sickly sweet, causing another violent clench to rock poor Rinze's insides.

_"Please don't believe him..." _She thought desperately, but she dared not to make a move, lest Nii wreck revenge on her later if Kougaiji was the type of demon to simply not care about a little human girl. He couldn't be like that... Feu would not stand for something like that...

"A doll...?" Kougaiji asked slowly, tilting his head to the side as his intense purple eyes gazed up and along her figure... she did look rather still... but... there was something strange here. He could feel something inside of him urging him to not just turn and leave, something was telling him in the back of his head to keep on this... to investigate. Reaching up slowly, he rested his palm against the "doll's" cheek, surprised at the warmth and smooth, soft quality of the skin. His sharp nails rested along the back of her cheek, nearly brushing her ear and getting partially buried within her chocolate colored hair. "A doll?! She's warm!!"

"Technology is amazing isn't it? Even you are fooled."

Technology? Kougaiji grit his teeth a little bit, he would not be made a fool of! But... if his instincts were right, then he wasn't... If this was a real girl then he would have to do something about it, but for now, there was nothing to prove either way, and he could not act out blatantly. Not yet at least, there was too much tying him down and locking him up, despite his prowess with battle and his control over fire. There were smaller things he could do though, they would not be much but he would do them anyway. "Hmph, you better not have created her just to let her get blown up, you bastard."

"Her?" Nii snickered at the prince, leaning forward slightly and chewing on the butt of a cigarette he had placed in his mouth while Kougaiji examined his new toy. Perhaps the little youkai was smarter than he looked, but that did not matter. He knew his doll would remain still while any one other than him was in the room, and he did have some punishment to dish out for those little defections of hers.

"Well you obviously made it female," the youkai snapped, "for obvious reasons." He added after, slowly lowering his hand away from her face. Her eyes were like the full moon... but they looked so cold and distant... maybe scared? A doll with human eyes and human hair..? Warm skin and a look of fear hiding behind a dead expression? Perhaps she was only a doll, but because she was being controlled to be that way through some of Nii's blasphemous technology. He moved away from the doll and leaned his back against a wall, folding his arms over his chest and then crossing an ankle over the other. "This interests me, I think I'll stay and watch a while."

What had that been..? A glimmer in the girl's eyes, very faint... but... he got the overwhelming sensation that someone was thanking him over and over again. Or was he simply going insane?? When he looked back the glimmer was gone, but he suddenly felt stronger than ever before, like something was feeding him more energy as a reward for subconsciously becoming a guardian for the doll locked within the labs. Now comfortable against the wall, and content that Nii was a little miffed, Kougaiji took the time to really take in the appearance of the girl, for he decided there must be something real there.

She was pretty... not a angelic beauty, but he could see that her features worked well with each other. Her entire body had a fragile build to it, and he was sure if left hanging up like that for too long she would shatter. There was something else as well, something calling his attention, but it was hidden by the blankness that was on her face at the moment. He would find out...

_"I promise..."_


	13. Scene 13: The Doll's Friends

**Scene 13: The Doll's Friends**

Sanzo's hand was tightly clenched around the small, moon-shaped charm that he had found on the road as he stood silently in what had been Rinze's room. While Hakkai had been woken up by the scuffle, Gojyo and Goku had needed some extra help: namely, a kick to the head each. Now the priest and the chi-wielder were waiting as patiently as possible to be joined by the kappa and the monkey. Both Hakkai and Sanzo wore closed off expressions, reflecting on the current situation.

"So why are we up?" Goku asked blearily as he trudged into the room, a fist over his eye in an attempt to rub the sleepy-ness from it. Gojyo sauntered in after the youth and they both gazed at Sanzo curiously, noting he was standing before the bed where they assumed their priestess was sleeping. Confused? Very much so.

Purple eyes stared darkly toward the new arrivals before the owner sidestepped, exposing the disheveled and obviously empty bed.

Instantly Goku was in an uproar, the monkey rushing to the bed and throwing the sheets around, hoping she had just pulled a joke. The taboo simply turned to Sanzo and Hakkai, face grim, and waiting for an explanation. Obviously Rinze had not left under her own power or choice if Sanzo was slowly becoming pissed and found the need to rip them into reality from the dreams they entered at night. Although he had no idea what those dreams entailed, the monk had made an executive decision that the Rinze-kidnapping situation was much more important than Gojyo's perverted dreams of woman and booze, or Goku's dreams of food.

"As you can see," Hakkai said gently, once Goku had slumped onto his knees in defeat. "Rinze has been kidnapped."

"By…" Gojyo's fingers curled into fists slowly, the muscles in his arms contracting as he felt a combination of worry and rage fill him. He already knew the answer of course, but he wanted to hear it. They had taken her into the group in the order to protect her, but instead ended up being of no help at all.

"Youkai."

"Why are we just standing around?!" Goku burst out, leaping up to his feet in a rapid release of energy. "We need to save her!"

"We don't know where they took her." Amethyst eyes locked onto those of gold, the voice sharper than usual. "Where do you suggest we start?"

Like the air being let out of a balloon, the monkey returned to his position on the floor, teeth grit as his eyes glittered with a layer of water. There had to be something they could do! They couldn't just let Rinze be eaten! The voices around him muffled out as he wracked his brain for a way to get Rinze back. As all his plans seemed to fizzle out and die, Goku laid down on his side, staring blankly under the Wiccan's bed. He saw her canvas bag, squished slightly to fit, and a brown sack.

Wait… did that sack just move?

With another random spike of energy, Goku started to wriggle under the bed to retrieve the sack, which was letting out faded peeps. They sounded tired, and very sacred. He managed to catch hold of the sack and began to tug it out. As soon as the first tug occurred the brown material started to thrash and squeal. It quieted down quickly however as Goku sat up, sitting Indian style and placing the bag on his lap.

"Meian!" He exclaimed happily as the petite black dragon poked its head out of her makeshift prison. Her mane was slightly tussled and there were definitely signs of a struggle on her part, but other than that the dragon seemed to be physically all right.

Sanzo whirled around as Meian let out a loud peep and big, glossy tears started to roll down her snout. He took the dragon from Goku and was not very surprised when sharp, mini talons dug into the black shirt he wore under his robes. She was linked to Rinze, and she was missing her Wiccan friend. Lifting a hand, the monk started to scratch and stroke the dragon's mane, soothing the tears.

"Maybe Meian can lead us to Rinze," Hakkai suggested, Hakaryu, perched on his shoulder, sadly watching the other dragon. The white dragon knew that they had to reunite the Wiccan with her pet quickly or the pretty black dragon may easily go berserk with depression and rage at those that did injustice to her friend. Crooning softly, Hakaryu rested his head against the brown locks of hair that belonged to the tall, green eyed man he was using as a perch.

"If she hasn't been eaten yet."

The entire room fell silent as the grave, the party stared blankly dissipating darkness. That option hit them all hard… that it was too late… and Rinze was gone. As much as Sanzo tried to put the positive spin of "one less burden" on the scenario, it did not work. Perhaps his heart was not as cold as he thought, for he could not bring himself to label the slender, polite priestess with those big, moon-like eyes as a "burden."

Meian's peeping brought everyone's attention away from their hopeless thoughts and on to her as she flapped her wings and wiggled her tail. Her neck was stretched out as far as possible and her tiny nose was to the air as she started to sing. To hear a dragon's song was a very interesting experience for the Sanzo party, for Hakaryu had never done it before. The tiny dragon's voice was strong and passionate, each note melding smoothly and slowly into the next. The melody was sweet and soothing, and strangely familiar to the wayward priest, and it only took a moment for him to realize where he had heard it before.

It was Rinze's Lullaby.

"She's still alive," Sanzo said softly, cradling the singing Meian in his left arm. "Meian can find her."

"But… what if we're too late?"

"Rinze is stronger than she knows," Sanzo replied firmly to the questioner, lifting his head slowly to look at the others. His eyes, sometimes called demon eyes, glowed with a faint light that said it was time to be the attackers, instead of the defenders. It was time to stop reacting, and to start being the ones who acted.

"Well… yeah, but she's scared." Goku folded his hands over his mouth, tilting his head to one side so that his long bangs shifting over golden eyes. Eyes that now slid shut as he tried not to picture the woman boiling in a cauldron of soup.

"Yes, and that is why she will survive." The monk rested his hand on Meian's back, rolling his fingers over her scales. Hakaryu spread his wings out to their full span and stretched his neck out as far as he could, puffing out his tiny chest. Tail uncurling from Hakkai's neck, the dragon swayed it back and forth as he made a rather amusing noise that sounded similar to a trumpet.

"Hakaryu is ready to go." Hakkai translated, a smile appearing on his face as his little dragon continued his display.

Gojyo put his fist into the air, flipping his long hair out of his face and declared,

"Time to go save the damsel in distress!!"


	14. Scene 14: Promise

**Scene 14: Promise**

By now the darkness was familiar, the silence and old friend, and the cold, stone floor was piratically a strict father keeping her awake for hours on end. Occasionally, that psychopathic doctor would appear to take the slowly weakening Wiccan to the lab for a while before dumping her back into the gloom and dust. At least when she was in the laboratory, that youkai would somehow always manage to be there and watching, even if he was unsure as to what alerted him to Nii's movements. Those purple eyes, that reminded her so of her angry monk friend, stared intently at the back of Nii's head as any and all experiments and "alterations" were performed. Rinze could tell that it did annoy the doctor to a point, because he would have to rush his real experiments before the prince showed up. If the youkai did find out that the girl on the table was an actual living being he would become more of a nuisance than he already was.

Lowering her head to her knees, the witch sighed slowly as she trailed her slender fingers over the dust on the floor. She was so tired, but it would be suicide if she attempted to take a nap. What if that oily bastard returned when she was in one of the most defenseless states a person can be in? It wasn't like she could do much when she was awake, but Rinze liked the fact she would at least know what was going on! She didn't want to wake up all of a sudden, vulnerable (in the strongest physical sense of the word), bound in a position that told her volumes of exactly what was coming next. The idea sent a numb feeling searing through her to her heart, grasping hold of it and forcing it to pump faster as her lungs twinged. Trembles shook her frail build as a tense, tingling feeling passed across her upper nose and over her eyes. Sparkling water started to obscure what little--

_NO! _Furiously passing her wrist over her eyes, the floating, misty gray material of her sleeve destroyed any tears that had started to form. Her fear could not overcome her, and crying would do nothing to help the situation. If that... _monster..._ came in to see her crying, like a lost little child in the dark... his possible reaction was a horrifying image in the Wiccan's mind. No, tears would not solve anything... it could possible end in disaster if the spirits decided to take revenge. The last time something of this magnitude happened to the young Wiccan was the night that... her mistress, the Moon Priestess Emily Rose had been burned...

Pushing all those thoughts from her mind, faded gray eyes took in the patterns that her fingers were doodling in the dust and the priestess could not help but give a wry smirk at the irony. _I'm his most precious doll, yet he leaves me in the dust and dirt when he is not playing with me, _she thought coldly. Gathering her skirts she attempted to make herself more comfortable and warmer, half her body felt numb from the chilly air in the room. It was not a very nice place to be, only made worse by the annoyed rumble of Rinze's empty stomach.

Perhaps it was a combination of the lack of food, heat, and sleep, but it took her several long moments to realize that someone was fiddling with the lock on the outside of the door. She lifted her head and stared intently through the darkness to the door as her rat friend scampered over the hem of her skirt in its journey from one end of the room to the other. It was late... or at least she assumed that it was rather late, and she could not think of why the doctor would "need" her twice in the same day. Or, at least she did not _want _to think of why he would need her twice. Those possibilities were not something that were good to dwell on when fear was still lurking so close to her heart, waiting to pounce out like a ravenous alligator to snap down over her sanity.

When several minutes had passed and the door had not opened, she realized it could not be Nii on the other side of the door. When she began to wonder who it could be, the Wiccan suddenly noticed that she was no longer cold.

The door clicked before swinging open to let in a sudden blare of light that blinded Rinze for several moments. She could barely make out a blurred figure standing in the door through squinted eyes, but there was no long lab coat silhouetted against the bright light. Once her pupils had retracted enough so that looking was not painful, she lifted her head to gaze into a pair of intense eyes of amethyst. Eyes that narrowed the instant they saw the slender woman curled up against the back wall of the room,

"I knew it," the prince growled lowly, "if you were truly a just a piece of technology why would he need to lock you up in such an out of the way place?"

His fierce expression relaxed somewhat as he entered the room and approached the "doll". Why did she not speak? Was she mute? Her eyes were illuminated in the darkness, like two full moons, glittering mysteriously as they watched him move closer. Perhaps that bastard had threatened her into silence, and she was afraid to utter a single word. If that was the case...

The girl's hand moved up and rested on her throat as she shook her head back and forth slowly. Kougaiji watched as the petite priestess moved her hand to her arm and pretended to herself some kind of injection. Her face during all of this was smooth and gentle, eyes sliding half shut so that the celestial color was framed with long eyelashes, until her gestures portrayed herself with glasses and she gave the most oily smirk that she could muster. Although he found her imitation of Nii cute and amusing, he did not laugh and instead scowled.

"That utter bastard..." His hand clenched into a tight fist, sharp nails skidding over his palm and nearly piercing in if he had not had the experience with them that he did. "I know what he gave you," he explained softly, trying his best to not scare the woman farther into the corner. Her open expression and widened eyes told him stories of how she did not fear him, however, and he found the carefully forced gentleness relaxing into a natural tone. "He was bragging about it a week or two ago. It is some kind of drug that paralyzes the vocal chords, so vocalizing is, of course, impossible. At least until the drug wears off, but..."

Reaching out with his right hand, the youkai placed it against her throat... her neck was so long and swan-like he felt like he would accidentally snap it. He felt it pulse under his hand as the girl swallowed and tensed, unsure of what he was about to do. Claw-like nails traced over pale skin, sending tingling sensations throughout her body. It triggered a soft shiver to shake her as her lips parted in a faint gasp. Kougaiji started to speak, in a deep tone, words that few, even his own kindred, understood. Each word seemed to have a physical effect on the girl, for as each sound completed another shiver would sweep her. dark, but not necessarily evil, energies started to gather within the room, mixed with what was unmistakably Feu.

Intense heat swept through the Wiccan's body, it was all most like she was on fire... being burned for being a witch... At the same time it was incredibly soothing, purging her of unnatural combinations of natural elements. The conflict of emotions called water to gather in her eyes again as trembles returned to rock her limbs. Feu was doing his best to soothe the intensity for the darker magic, but he could not protect his chosen from it all. Kougaiji, seeing the pained expression on her face, called back the energies and dispersed them.

Catching Rinze's fragile body in his arms as she collapsed, the youkai worried he might have damaged, instead of healed, her. The demonic energies he had used were very dangerous to use on humans, even the healing techniques. He had been hoping that what ever had been pushing him toward her and commanding him wordlessly to help her, would protect her from the negative side effects. Her head fell against his shoulder, a curtain of chocolate tresses cascading over her face as she turned it into his neck, still shaking. Wrapping one arm around her slim waist, the prince cupped her cheek in his other hand, helping her to hide her pale features in the crook of his neck. If he had accidentally injured her further... Nii would notice it instantly the neck time she was dragged into the lab to be tested and experimented on.

Seating himself Indian style on the floor, Kougaiji easily lifted the slender frame of the girl onto his lap. Her skirt billowed and fanned out, resting like a heavy blanket over their legs. Her continued silence seemed to affirm his dread that he had hurt her further and had not fixed the problem at all. He silently cursed himself for even attempting to use his natural element, his demonic manipulations, to heal the girl, it had been stupid and naive to hope that she would be healed and have no side effects to it.

"Are you in pain?" He asked softly, trying to coax some type of spoken word from her.

"No... just recovering." Her accent was so heavy and twisted that it took the prince several moments to figure out what had been said. "Thank you."

"It was nothing," was the somewhat gruff reply. Indeed, he was just glad her voice had been freed. "You have a lovely voice, do not let it be imprisoned again." this meant that if ever Nii was to come and take her for more experiments, she could not attack. For now, she would have to pretend to still be under the drug's effects.

Rinze quietly nodded her head, not wanting to speak too much lest the vocal chords become strained and worn out too quickly. Curiosity began to gnaw on the back of her mind as she breathed in the youkai's scent that surrounded her. What had that language been? The Wiccan knew many languages, including the four major ones that she needed to speak in to call on the spirits. English for water, French for fire, German for earth and Italian for the winds. The words that this youkai had spoken... Rinze had never heard anything like them before, and had never been so fragile and easily afflicted by a spoken incantation before! What kind of language so easily influenced her body and feelings?

Long, powerful fingers curled against Rinze's side, squeezing with surprising gentleness to bring her closer. The fabric of her skirt whispered as it ruffled around her, the lace of her petticoats peeking out shyly from under the midnight material. Kougaiji could feel her breath, and her heart beat, while the former was soft and smooth, the latter was racing faster than he could run. He attributed it to the effect of the energies that had been attempting to heal her but had to shock her system in order to do it. Breathing in deeply, he lowered his hand not wrapped around her waist to push against the floor and support his upper body as he leaned back a little bit. Tilting his head down to look at the top of the Wiccan's hair, he shifted his legs a little to readjust her all most nonexistent weight.

"I am Kougaiji," He said slowly, he had heard her accent and did catch on, much faster than the Sanzo party, that she did not speak Japanese as a first language.

"Rinze."

"Well Rinze," He continued after taking a moment to form the strange sounding name correctly, "I made a promise to you that first day in the lab, even if I could not tell you. I will find out what Nii wants with you, and I will do my best to stop it and get you out of here and to safety. I promise this."

A doll does not have the power to defy, but if treated as a friend, a will may blossom from the darkness. A will to make their friend happy.


	15. Scene 15: Lessons for the Prince

**Scene 15: Lessons for the Prince**

The food from Yaone steamed gently on their plates as Kougaiji carried the tray down the deserted hallway. At the very end was the heavy oak door that lead into the doll's dark chambers. It left a bad taste in his mouth that such a well furnished and open hall lead into a bleak, forgotten room. Forgotten by most, maybe, but not by him. The prince could not keep his mind off Rinze and her situation: why the hell was Nii so interested in her? She has shown nothing that would separate her from any other human, except for her style of dress and talent for languages. Then again, it wouldn't surprise the Youkai if Nii only wanted her for-- Kougaiji decided to not breech that subject.

It occurred to the powerful fire-demon that perhaps...more than likely... the crazy scientist was hiding any serious experiments or results from him. Try as he might, Kougaiji could not be in the lab every moment that Rinze was. "Most of the time" still allowed Nii enough leeway to conduct many experiments without Kougaiji's knowledge, and that irked him beyond his normal limits. If something happened to the Wiccan while or because he was not there, the prince would be furious with both Nii and himself. The idea of recruiting some others to be his eyes and ears while he was preoccupied was very tempting.

Realizing that the door to Rinze's prison was now looming in front of him, Kougaiji broke from his thoughts to collect himself. He knew that Rinze must already know of his approach, even if he did not understand how she did it. No matter what happened to her in the lab, whenever Kougaiji came back to her cell, the priestess had a smile on her face for him. It was mystifying to the demon that the slender, frail looking girl could muster up a positive expression, just for him. He could only conclude that she did not want him to worry about her, or discover she was in more pain than her visage showed.

And despite the warm, content countenance that the doll held when the prince came, he could easily see her strength leaving her as the days dragged on and Nii did not properly care for "his toy". The bastard did it on purpose, to weaken Rinze's resolve and defiance. Kougaiji would put good money on that Nii was trying to get her to beg, shed all pride and beg in any manner she could for just a bite of bread or a drink of water. Nii was the type to give the excuse of "well she never told me she was hungry", or he wanted to keep the charade up of her being a doll so badly he did not care if she starved. After all, why would a toy need to be fed?

By now, picking the padlock on the door was easy and second nature to the prince, even while balancing a tray loaded with food on his other arm. The hall was filled with red light from the setting sun, and Kougaiji knew the "doctor" would amuse himself on other projects for the rest of the night. Results from experiments done on Rinze took a long time to come back, and the youkai figured it was because Nii's technology was not used to processing in the way Nii wanted it to. He did not really care; it gave him long periods of time to check on Rinze and make sure she rested and recovered from the day in the lab.

Opening the door, purple eyes lifted to look for the woman, and Kougaiji was not surprised to find eyes of silver staring at him from the floor. A smile was gracing her lips before a look of surprise took over her features when she saw the tray full of food. Rinze's pale hands moved up to her stomach as it protested angrily at her for lack of said sustenance. The smell wafting from the tray made her mouth start to water in anticipation.

"I see that my assumption had been correct," the demon said easily as he entered the room and slid the door shut behind him. As the light was blocked from the room, he held up his free hand and summoned a ball of fire to brighten the dark room. It floated up from his hand and hovered like a miniature sun above their heads. Kneeling down in front of the girl, Kougaiji set the tray on the floor for her and handed over a pair of chopsticks. "Eat, I want to see all of this food gone."

Rinze carefully positioned her chopsticks in her fingers the way Sanzo had shown her. How long ago had that been? the days passed so swiftly that it felt like it had been an eternity since that dinner in the inn. The food sitting in front of her beckoned her to eat and soon she gave in, shoveling a mouthful of rice first. The rest of the food was soon tasted and devoured as quickly as Rinze could manage with chopsticks. Flavors rippled through her mouth that were barely noticed until she forced herself to slow down and savor them.

"What an appetite," a grin appeared on the prince's face when the girl began to hiccup from eating far too fast. When was the last time he had smiled or laughed? He had had no reason to for so long that he wore a scowl most of the time. "So tell me, do you have any idea why Nii would be so interested in you?"

Pausing for a moment, chopsticks half in her mouth from deposition a load of chicken and rice, the girl turned her eyes to the youkai who was settling himself of the floor. Right foot flat against the floor so his leg was bent at a right angle, Kougaiji tucked his left leg through the triangle and folded his right arm on top of his knee while his left hand supported his weight behind him. It was the most casual that anyone had seen the Demon Prince, but he felt like his usual hard expression would only end up intimidating Rinze.

"Well, yes," was the answer. The girl seated herself on her hip, tucking her legs to her side. Kougaiji's eyes were alert and curious now, hidden behind the powerful defense. "I am of a religion called Wicca. It is a religion that celebrates and honors the spirits and the different elements of nature. All elements fall under one of two Master Elements; Moon or Sun. The four major elements are Wind, Water, Fire, and Earth."

"And those fall under Moon or Sun?" Kougaiji asked, feeling like a young schoolboy enraptured by something new and amazing.

"Yes. Earth and Water are under the Moon, while Fire and Wind fall to the Sun." Seeing the youkai nod in understanding, the Wiccan continued the lesson in her soft voice. "The elements do pick favorites among people, and not just humans either. Those people chosen by the elements can learn to wield them, often vocally, requesting their assistance in the spirit's favored language."

"Can people control more than one element?"

"It is very rare. Normally opposing elements, whether by nature or sign, do not favor the same person. I, however, have been blessed by all four of the major elements. Lesser elements do not require a blessing for someone to wield them."

"So that's why..." Kougaiji bowed his head, locks of red hair falling into his face. She seemed to know exactly why she was here, maybe she knew... "What is telling me to help you?"

"The spirits have personalities," Rinze explained, "Feu, that is fire, he's very picky about who he favors, but he absolutely loves it when his children help each other. So he takes it upon himself to inform them when another with his blessing is within their power to help, and if he is acknowledged, Feu tends to bestow some type of reward."

"So..." Kougaiji said slowly, resting his chin on his bent knee. "You are saying that this... Feu... favors me?"

"Yes, I can feel his spirit around you, and it is more concentrated than I have ever felt before." Rinze answered, swirling the chopsticks through portions of food, mixing and piling the rice with sauce and pieces of chicken. "His aura is so strong, along with yours, that whenever you come near I can feel fire and warmth creep through me."

The prince was very well confused at all this information; how could this be possible? He had been able to wield his fire from a young age, as could others of youkai blood. It had always been described as a demon fire! Although... he recalled an amazed comment from an older kith that he was the only known fire-starter that could choose what he wanted to have burn. Despite that, Rinze had said in order to call for the power, one had to speak in the spirit's preferred language.

"So you call the elements to your aid by speaking," he said, trying to make sense of this new information. "But then how do I call the fire, I don't speak..."

"Feu likes French."

"French. I don't know a single word of it."

"Uhm, there are cases when a spirit favors one so much that they permanently leave a piece of them self with that person. In that way, the element can always be brought forth with the slightest thought." The priestess said after taking a few moments to ponder the question. It was the best explanation that she could come up with; no one really knew what drew the spirits to bless specific people. From what she could remember of Feu, the mental image she got of him was a tall, slender man with long, pitch black hair and ruby eyes. He had scruffy stubble and was clad in armor that had a red sheen to it.

As picky as he was, Feu was the "chivalrous" element, and would some how strike his revenge if any of this priestesses (for he tended to favor women) were harmed based on their beliefs. This did include being burned at the stake, which often sent the Fire spirit into a lethal rage. Rinze remembered the night that her mentor was burned right before her eyes; Feu had surged uncontrollably into her system, painfully forcing her other spirits into submission before destroying the culprits in a dazzling display of flame and finesse with a great sword.

The host, far too young at the time to really understand what had happened, succumbed to the monstrous amount of energy that passed through her body and blacked out. Floating in the unstable realm between conscious and unconscious, Rinze had heard an argument between two voice; one was male, deep and rich, it sent a shiver down her spine. the other voice was gentle, kind, calm, and collected, and quite obviously female. Snippets of the argument fixed themselves into the Wiccan's memory, and now she recalled them to try and piece them together.

_ "It is very lucky she did not die," the female voice stated softly, and Rinze felt a slender hand pass over her forehead and stroke her hair. Arms lifted her body up and rested her weary, throbbing head against a warm, plump bosom, keeping her safe. "What were you thinking, Julius? Children of the Celestial that were older than her were torn to shreds when one of us attempted that, and you know this."_

_ "I wasn't thinking, Cleo!" The man replied sharply, a larger, rougher hand cupped Rinze's chin with great control, as if the person was forcefully pushing their rage away. "What would have stopped them from burning her once she started to exhibit her own gifts? There was a chance she would survive, so I took it."_

_ "And by taking that chance you have shown a much greater display of power that she would not have shown on her own until she was much older." The woman reprimanded him, her voice still gentle but a little harder._

_ "Well, there is no changing it now."_

"Rinze?" Fingers snapped in front of her face before two strong hands took her by the shoulders.

"H-huh?" She blinked and found herself gazing into two intense purple eyes. "Oh, s-sorry, I got lost in thought. Uhm," the Wiccan pulled her thoughts back together, what had they been talking about? Oh right, Kougaiji and Feu. "D-do you speak any other languages?"

The prince stared at her for several long moments; she falls silent and distance, not responding to his voice for close to ten minutes, and then when she comes back she just shrugs it off and tries to continue the conversation? She was such an odd creature, but he had known that since he first saw her. He decided not to push it, what ever she had been thinking about must have been a very deep hole in her mind and Kougaiji did not want her to fall down it again.

"I can speak an ancient, demonic tongue," he answered finally, finishing his consideration of the young Wiccan. "It's only for chants really, you know, like when I freed your voice. I was speaking in Demonic."

"Can I hear some more of it?"

There was a moment of hesitation as Kougaiji remembered how the demonic chants had affected her so acutely. It was the first time he had used it on a human, and maybe that is how they all reacted to it. She wasn't harmed by it, but this time he would pick something other than a chant. He recalled a poem from the depths of his memory; it was simple and short, but the youkai could not remember where he had learn it. Probably from some book he randomly picked up at some time or another.

Once more the deep tone of the language filled the small, dark room. The words came smoothly, rolling off the prince's tongue as easily as the winds over a meadow. The poem was short, but he spoke it slowly, the rhythm subtle, a stark contrast to the chant from before. This was an entirely different sensation; Rinze's breath hitched and her limbs felt weak. Listening to the strange words, they seemed to hang in the air and would not fade away like normal speech. Each sound continued to echo softly through the room, staying low in volume even as more syllables joined them. The young Wiccan felt lifted up by the poem, her mind a little muddled as her body slowly fell into a state of ultimate relaxation. Her language prone mind took in the words, analyzing before letting them slip into the darkness that was starting to overcome the rest of her body.

"Rinze?" Kougaiji asked softly, noticing the vacant look in her gray eyes, before they slid closed. Although her expression was peaceful, the suddenness of her withdrawal was definitely caused by his words. Hoping that he did not accidentally curse her, the prince resolved to stay in the room for as long as possible. Seeing that he had told Doku to come get him should he see Nii preparing the lab for Rinze, Kougaiji was all set to stay for the rest of the night.

Now examining the girl closely, the youkai could see all the signs of stress and fatigue from Nii's experiments. So what in the hell was that bastard looking for? Sure she could call on elements, but he was pretty sure that she would never fall under his complete control, and in order to use the elements they had to be asked in a preferred language. He was sure that the doctor wasn't multi-lingual.

Kougaiji rubbed his eyes with one hand, then pinched the bridge of his nose to try and avoid a headache he knew was coming. Nii was too unpredictable, it was very difficult to determine just what his plan was. All the demon could do was keep all sense open and alert and start a plan to get Rinze out of here. The time slot for it would be easy, but everything else would require more attention to minute details.

A gentle aroma wafted into the youkai's nose suddenly when he leaned a bit closer to check for any injuries. It made him think of the fresh earth after a spring rainstorm, and the image of a land filled with cloud-like mist filled his mind's eye. He felt... clean, like he had never done a thing against the natural flow of life. Shaking the image away he turned amethyst eyes to the sleeping Rinze and frowned slightly. Should he really--

No, it was too dangerous here for her, she had to leave.


	16. Scene 16: A Troublesome Wall

**Scene 16: A Troublesome Wall**

Meian was perched on the edge of Hakaryu's hood like some over sized ornament, nose tilted to the air as wind rushed throughout her mane and over her scales. The light glittered off the black, well cared for scales as she spread her wings slightly, guiding Hakaryu after her mistress' aura. Both dragons were peeping and cooing to each other non-stop, conversing and debating in their unique language that no one else could understand. Those riding in the jeep could not tell if the two were taking them to Rinze or plotting to ditch them in the nearest trench and run off together.

Since they began from the last inn just after midnight, Goku had not complained once about his empty stomach. The idea that his newest friend could soon be in the stomach of her captors kept the monkey quiet about such matters. Golden eyes stared blankly at passing vegetation as the owner slept with them open. All of them had only a few hours of sleep keeping them running from over the past few days; they could not stop for long, and especially because they were travelling straight north instead of west as they had been commanded.

By now the road had become very wild and unused, and an occasional cart was seen on the side of the road, broken down and ransacked for all it was worth. Hakkai had mentioned that there was a small town that they were heading for, and a little to the east was an abandoned fort. Sanzo had located it on the map and could not help but stare at the icon that marked where the fortress stood to the right of the circle that represented the town.

"Abandoned," the monk said softly as he started to fold up the map. "Money on the bastards using that as their hideout."

"They've got no originality," the kappa answered from the back as he crushed his cigarette onto the white bandage wrapped around his wrist before flicking it over the side. He was tired, but not sleepy, there was no chance of him getting in a wink of sleep until Rinze's condition was confirmed. Even if she had… not made it, that knowledge was better than not knowing at all; that's what he supposed, anyway. As long as the black dragon remained upbeat and continued to lead the party on, the guys were assuming the best.

"Makes our job easier," the blonde glared out of the jeep, angered still that he had been _in the room, _but had left. He should have been paying more attention, he had gotten lazy! Now because of that, the youkai had been handed the perfect opportunity to seize the Wiccan.

"Hope we still get some type of entertainment by beating their asses into dust," Gojyo leaned his head back, letting the winds ruffle his wine colored hair. The water sprite was just as determined as the other three to get their petite friend back, although he found it strange how they all become rather attached to her so quickly. Even Sanzo was emerging from the apathetic shell with which he usually defended himself. Gojyo wondered was what so welcoming about the small priestess that drew them all in. All he knew was she was young, shy, kind, and needed someone to fight with her. He would let the others draw their own conclusions, like hell he was going to do it for them.

* * *

The town they rolled into was very quiet, not many people were out and about, reasonable considering sunrise was still an hour away. Everyone was exhausted, including Meian who could sense the demons who had taken away her best friend. Hakaryu was ready to pass out, but he had refused to stop until they reached town. Now that they were here, his job was done and the little white dragon was looking forward to food and sleeping on the chi wielder's shoulder while the limited demon worked.

"I don't think we're in a condition to charge in," Hakkai said as he climbed out of the jeep. "Perhaps we should take the day to gather information and rest."

"Right." Sanzo scooped the slumbering black dragon off the hood of the jeep. "We leave as soon as possible, so don't think this is some type of vacation. Kill the bastards, get Rinze, and move on."

* * *

The elder's of the backward town were very wary of the strangers, not will to talk much about the state the town was in. The "warm welcome" was starting to trigger Sanzo's kill reflex, but he had enough control to just snap at the imbeciles before going back into their room at the inn. It was actually Goku, interacting with some of the town's children, who found out the most.

"They said there is a group of demons that steal women from here." He told the others over lunch, mixing together his beef and rice earnestly. "But a while ago, some of the kids were playing in a near by rice field and saw two of the demons heading for the abandoned castle. One of the girls said she saw one carrying a large doll with funny, very poofy clothing."

"They're only kids." The irritated monk said, "They were probably just looking for attention."

"I'm not so sure, Sanzo." The healer said slowly, "you can't deny that the description is very reminiscent to our missing Rinze. The kids were probably so open to Goku because he was willing to listen and connects with them so well."

"Willing to listen?" Red eyes blinked at green as the kappa twirled a batch of noodles around his chopsticks. "What are you talking about?"

"Adults have a tendency to ignore children in matters like this," was the calm answer as Hakkai fed Hakaryu and Meian some dumplings. The two dragons were coiled up in his lap, chomping sleepily on whatever food was offered to them.

"We were going to investigate that place anyway… weren't we?" Goku asked, dumping all most half the bowl of rice onto his plate before reaching for the beef. The monkey's appetite had returned now that they were so close to saving Rinze from those jerks that took her away. He was looking forward to kicking some ass.

"Well we have to now," Sanzo's eyebrow twitched as he watched the food mound on the youth's plate swiftly turn into a mountain. His fingers tapped lightly on the harisen stationed on his lap; his nerves were friend even if he did not show it, so the monk was prepared. "The other locals gave us shit, so we have to investigate ourselves."

"Do you think she's there?"

"If not, Sanzo is definitely going to blow some shit up." The kappa interjected with a wise as grin. If only he knew how wound up Sanzo's snap chord all ready was.

"What are you?" The priest snapped as he grabbed the fan. "NINE!?" With that, he brought the harisen down on the water sprite's face with a satisfying _THWACK! _That helped to relieve some of the tension, but another attack was just waiting in the shadows. Gojyo yelled at the monk, glaring at him with those forbidden eyes as Hakkai and Goku just stared. This scene was not a new one, so they decided to continue eating as the other two settled their dispute. Everyone was tired, so boiling, and vaporizing, points were much lower.

"Maybe we should all get some rest." Hakkai interrupted suddenly, rising to his feet and lifting the two sleeping dragons (now with bloated, Buddha bellies) into his arms. The monkey got up along with him and took the small, black dragon, yawning. "I know I'd like to get Rinze back as soon as conceivable."

No one had any arguments to that plan, and so soon the Sanzo party was upstairs and bunkering down in the large group room of the inn. Goku wiggled out of his shirts and jeans, Meian watching blearily from her nested spot atop his pillow. Belly-flopping onto the bed, the monkey laughed as Meian fluttered her wings furiously at the sudden upset to her comfort. Wriggling under the covers, Goku held them up to allow the small winged creature to crawl into his warmth. He listened to her soft peeks and coos as she balled up into a leathery cocoon inside her wings.

"Comfy?" He asked and received a rattling purr as the affirmative.

Sanzo placed his Smiths and Weston under his pillow and set his chest plate and sutras on a small table beside his chosen bed. As he took a seat, he watched Goku get himself comfortable with a lump on his stomach that he assumed to be Meian. At least those two would be able to sleep. Gojyo was clonked face down on his bed and Hakkai was floating a blanket down over the kappa. The two that remained awake looked at each other, silent for a moment.

"Hakkai…" Sanzo paused for a moment, a frown turning his lips.

"We'll find her." Hakkai said softly, walking toward his own bed. "We seem to have luck on our side when we need it most."

"You're the one with all the luck," Sanzo corrected, lowering himself onto his back. "Mr. Five-Straight-Royal-Flushes-In-A-Row." He added, a little bitter note tingeing his voice.

"I honestly did not expect that to happen."

"…sure…"


	17. Scene 17: Chemicals

**Scene 17: Chemicals**

"Was the food enough?" Yaone lifted her head when she heard the prince enter. She instantly noted that he seemed to be plotting, his sharp purple eyes gazing intently at the floor in front of his feet. When spoken to, Kougaiji lifted his head and turned those amethyst eyes to the female youkai.

"…oh…" Hiding the momentary weakness instinctively, the prince straightened his posture. "She ate all of it, quite fast."

"And how does she look?" Yaone's eyes flittered over several jars of dried and fresh herbs, wondering if those experiments were having hidden adverse affects on the young woman's health. Actually, the apothecary didn't doubt that; she had samples of the chemicals Nii was using, stolen by Kougaiji a few days ago.

"Same, there was very little change other than hunger and fatigue." The prince took a seat at the table with Yaone, running a clawed hand through his hair. Something cold pressed against his arm, hidden under the bunched up sleeve of his jacket, and he suddenly recalled he had snatched one of the chemicals from today's experiment when Nii's back was turned. Slipping his fingers into his sleeve, Kougaiji pulled out the vial and offered it to the purple haired youkai. The fluid was a vibrant color of teal, which made him nervous. "He was dropping it into her eyes.

"In her eyes?" Yaone's lips twisted into a worried frown as she took the vial, examining it with scrutiny.

"We have to get her out of here." Kougaiji got up to his feet, unable to remain seated while plotting an escape. This would be going directly against Nii and that whore who claimed the title of his mother, but, he had to weigh the options. Not once did they show any interest in helping his true mother, and Rinze was suffering _now. _Amethyst eyes closed as tension pulled at his chest, the priestess didn't deserve to be subjected to this kind of treatment. A gentle warmth landed on his shoulders, as if a friend had just placed their arm there.

Opening his eyes to look, Kougaiji was a little befuddled when he found no one there. The sound of stone twisting over stone told him that Yaone was grinding up herbs to see if she could figure out what the teal fluid was. Inhaling slowly, the prince mentally walked from the Wiccan's through the easiest route out the back door, without having to shatter any windows or move into dangerous territory. It wouldn't be that hard… as long as they started the route the instant that Rinze was left alone.

"We can take her out through the courtyard, no one ever goes there," he mused out loud. "And get her as far away as possible. Though, as soon as she is noticed to be missing, we'll have to be back, otherwise it will be too obvious. More obvious than it already will be." By now he was walking laps around the room, arms switching from folded over his chest to clasped behind his back and then back again occasionally. "Where's Doku?"

"He should be here soon," was the soft answer from Yaone, who knew he was still in the middle of plotting.

Speak of the devil, as Kougaiji turned the corner to restart his turn about the room when the door opened and in stepped the giant that was his bodyguard. Resting on his shoulder was his favored weapon, a great sword, one hand holding the hilt while the other swept through his dark colored hair. Shutting the door behind him, Doku looked at the other occupants of the room, a rather grim look on his face.

"Nii might know that the girl's voice is free." That was the information he had managed to gather while spying on the insane doctor. "He muttered something about putting drops in her eyes that would---"

"Blind her!!" Yaone exclaimed over Doku's speech, just as there was a crackle and a pop from her mortar where she had poured a few drops of the liquid.

"What?!" Kougaiji felt a surge of heat enter his body that wasn't only fueled by his own rage. Hands clenched into fists so hard that his sharp nails nicked the skin, but the Prince didn't even notice the pain. Damn, how could that bastard have found out?

"I can't tell if it will be permanent or not," the apothecary continued, "but if we allow him to put more in—"

"We're getting her out, tonight." Kougaiji said firmly, "I should not have even waited this long." He added in a low growl, teeth grit together.

"Winging it?" Doku asked with a grin, before nodding. "I'm ready."

"Then it's settled."

_The owner of a doll is the one who shows it compassion and love, for that is what gives the doll its power to be a bearer of happiness._


	18. Scene 18: Your Priestess

**Scene 18: Your Priestess**

**(Is in Another Castle)**

"Then it's settled!" Hakkai said cheerfully, sleep did wonders for countenance. "We walk!"

The Sanzo Party left the town and entered the forest, soon vanishing from sight amidst the thick green leaves and shrubbery. The distance they had to cover was not very long, and they didn't want to alert anyone at the fort of their coming. They had left the town halfway through sunset, after lying low (or as low as possible with Gojyo and Goku in the same room) all day. Sanzo figured they would arrive at night, allowing some cover.

The forest around them started to come in a little bit, trunks closer together and roots arching higher out of the soil. It was on three of their minds how the monk was able to maneuver through all of it without getting snagged once… it was almost un-nerving. More than once they saw some kind of overgrown building, plants claiming the abandoned stonework for themselves. Goku also discovered a miniature image of a slender woman, carved out of some kind of blue stone, holding a jar as if pouring some kind of liquid. He had happened to wander curiously into one of the buildings as the others went ahead and found it on an altar that was inside. It was small, barely an inch tall, and had a chord linked through it, so Goku tied it around his neck and hid the figure under his shirt. He didn't know why, but he just felt like it was too special to just leave in this crummy old ruin.

"Monkey!" Sanzo hissed, he and the others standing a distance away. Goku wiggled his way through vines that coiled over the doorway and clambered over a bush that seemed content where a dirt walkway had once been. He felt suddenly vitalized and alert, he could hear every little movement and rustle around him, but at the same time these sounds didn't distract him and he rejoined the others swiftly. "Don't forget what we're here for."

"I know, I know!"

The castle was just as run down and ruined as the other buildings that had been passed. At least it still had four walls, a roof, and a door, even though the outer defensive wall and gat was just a few stone blocks scattered on the ground. What architecture that could be made out was foreign, although Sanzo recalled images he saw of buildings in a place called Europe. They could hear rowdiness and laughter floating through the patches of missing wall; obviously the occupants were rather pleased with themselves.

The party split up to surround the castle simultaneously moving in and entering the building. Goku managed to climb up a coil of ivy that seemed to strengthen under his touch to support his weight as he climbed to a window lacking glass. Gojyo simply pushed some foliage to expose an entrance into what he assumed would be the kitchens. Hakkai followed Meian and Hakaryu, the former locating an entrance through what appeared to have once been stables, and Sanzo took the easy way and entered by squeezing through the crooked, wooden double doors in the front.

It sounded like the youkai were partying in what could be described as the main hall, the largest room in the entire place, just narrowly beating the dining hall, which Gojyo was just entering. Hakkai had entered a small antechamber, complete with intricate spider web drapes and an owl's nest decoration. Goku was a floor higher than the others, and poked his head around a crumbling wall to discover the perfect spy hole into the youkai's get together.

There were six of them, lounging on mis-matched moth-eaten chairs, breaking furniture not in use and wrestling each other over trivial matters. One of them was playing and swinging around a long, fine silver chain with many small charms on it, creating a constant jingling. Goku's golden eyes followed the path of the chain through the air, and the monkey suddenly remembered the petite witch's nimble fingers playing and fiddling with a chain—that chain—looped around her waist.

"Rinze's chain…" he whispered, gripping the edge of the broken wall tightly. He spotted a bashed in door across the way and a crop of red hair ducking just out of view.

"Bastards…" the kappa said softly, holding his crescent blade low so as not to let it reflect the light from a large fire the youkai had blazing in the center of the hall. Pushing the door very slowly, he opened a hole large enough to hurl his crescent blade through just in case. With the monkey around it would be a necessity. Red eyes scanned the seven youkai in the room, before looking toward a large set of double doors to the left, seeing a flash of tan move out of sight behind the door frame.

"…" Sanzo silently promised them all death when two started to argue over the trinket. Such one-track minds… His hand drew the gun from his sleeve, holding it ready to fire into any of the idiots' heads. The monk gazed at the other fully intact door in the room, noticing a gentle green-yellow light slipping under the door.

The chi wielder manipulated the focused energy into the lock on the door, breaking it down as quietly as possible. As soon as it was gone, he crouched down and listened in; just as who appeared to be the leader snatched the chain away from the two quarreling over it. They seemed to protest, before realizing just who had snatched the chain. It jingled as the charms were examined and played with.

"There is only one way to describe that little priestess…" a soft, gravely voice growled. "Tasty." There were several whoops and whistles of agreement from surrounding youkai. Three pairs of eyes narrowed, the fourth, the set of emerald, slid shut as the owner bowed his head. "At least, she would've been if—"

"YA-AH!" A miniature ball of energy and hunger launched out from his perch on the upper floor, Bo out and connecting with the closest skull, knocking the body attached to it flying. The golden-eyed youth had been so eager to shut them up he failed to notice the single demon stationed under where his perch had been. It changed _his _original count of six to seven.

Luckily for the monkey, a silver arched blade sliced the air near his cheek, severing the youkai's leg at the knee. The two who had been hit by the initial attack bellowed in pain, one of them grasping at the stump of his leg as if attempting to stop the gushing blood. The other five demons spun to face the attackers, yelling at each other amidst the confusion. One, a shorter, less attractive kidnapper, charged toward Goku, but found himself smashing into a translucent wall of green and yellow.

"Getting yourself into trouble again, monkey?" the kappa asked, a grin plastered on his face as the blade slid back to the end of the staff. He was standing just in front of the crooked door, now even more crooked so that the water sprite could've made his way through.

"You bastards—"

"Now, now," A cheerful voice filled the room as everyone's attention was pulled to the smiling chi wielder. "No need for name calling, we simply want some information."

"And what information would that be, traitor?" the leader spat venomously, noting the power limiters cuffed onto Hakkai's ear. It sickened him, these demons that voluntarily weakened themselves for the sake of the insignificant humans.

Something clicked and a round object was placed against the back of the top youkai's head… who probably was wishing he wasn't king of the goon squad right about now. Sanzo always had to be the last to enter and have the most dramatic way to expose his presence, usually then followed by him snatching up most, if not all, the glory. It was just how the deranged monk worked, and seeing that he was still alive, he found no reason to change it. The priest had very little patience for any feigned ignorance right now, but that's not saying much. He was the guy who said ten seconds then fired in two, claiming his poor math skills were to blame. His finger squeezed the trigger lightly, in preparation to fire.

"You may not recognize them." He said, annoyance lying heavily on each sound, "but how about me?"

One of the other youkai, who had been stationed as a lookout during the kidnapping, made a strange squeal type of yelp as he tumbled out of his chair. Instantly his wrist was seized by the kappa and twisted violently behind his back, drawing out another yelp and a pitiful amount of struggling. That was before the idiot realized that only caused more pain with no effort from the smug taboo now holding him. There was no question why the little yelper was left as lookout.

"W-we didn't—"

"Shut up!" The leader snarled, only to gulp audibly when Sanzo tilted his gun only scant inches up and fired. The bullet sliced through his prey's coal colored hair, littering gun powder onto his scalp and gave him several dozen burns. Although small, each one was scalding and sent searing pain into the idiot's thick skull. The priest's handsome features remained cold and aloof as she placed the gun back into position, ignoring both the burned one's yelps and whimpers of pain and the panicking lackeys, who started an uproar at the sound.

Goku and Hakkai wasted no more time in ending the misery of the youkai who were not restrained by the blonde or the red-head. This served two purposes; getting the others out of the way sooner, and rattling the youkai held by Gojyo's nerves so badly he would do anything to save his weasel-assed faced. Sputtering and stammering, it took the weaker willed of the two several long moments to retina use of his voice. The Sanzo Party had decimated youkai much stronger than these two, and they both knew it. That knowledge, however, did not stop the wanna-be leader from running his mouth and trying to be tough.

"You know she tasted very sweet," he sneered unwisely, "must mean she was virgin. Her magic gave her the bes—"

Someone should have warned the suicider that Sanzo was not one to be boasted to. Hell, most people avoided talking to him as much as possible, lest he find the topic of conversation boring or not worth his time. Another sharp pain surged through the youkai's body, this time from getting a forceful kick in the lower back that sent him onto his stomach. The monk's foot was placed solidly on the soon-to-be-dead demon's ass and leaned on, the Smiths and Wesson now aimed at the back of his head.

"I'm going to kill you now," the blonde said slowly. "Enjoy what ever kind of damnation your type deserves." Although Buddhist, and a bad one at that, Sanzo enjoyed the idea that bastards in life meant it would come back to bite them in the ass. Karma was never efficient enough, Sanzo decided that long ago, and was never punishment enough.

"Wai—" Too late! The wheel had rotated and the hammer slammed back into place. The youkai was dead before he could register what the bang had been. There, karma satisfied, now it could go torture some poor fool as it loved to do.

Another, rather effeminate yelp drew everyone's attention to the single remaining opponent. His tanned skin had gone white and locks of messy, frayed greenish hair stuck to his sweaty forehead. The pupils of his dull green eyes, which Rinze would say (although shyly) that Hakkai's eyes of emerald easily put to shame, were contracted in panic and fear. Both of which were the best friends of any interrogator. Those dull eyes were also darting all over the room, as if hoping one of his friends had survived or hidden form the devastating attack launched by the Sanzo Party.

"You wanted to say something?" The gun wielder asked as he approached the final target. Goku jumped to the leader's death spot and retrieved the chain hastily while the monk worked to "negotiate" with the only clue left as to what happened to Rinze. The monkey wanted to be sure the chain was recovered, like the trinket he found in the hut, he just had a gut instinct he should gather it and keep it safe. It was either that or the youth just liked to grab shiny objects, which it honestly could be, especially according to Sanzo.

"No… n-nothing," was the obvious lie that the youkai gave for an answer. He wouldn't be a traitor to his kind, not like the majority of the group he faced was. He would die and not give them anything.

"Listen," Sanzo rolled his eyes and placed the barrel of his gun on the bridge of the youkai's nose. Although this caused the captive to make a rather ridiculous face, eyes crossed and tongue stuck out, the monk was not amused. "I could give a shit whether you tell us or not, you're going to die either way." The youkai paled even more and gulped, but Sanzo simply pressed on. "If you don't tell us, you die, and the next life will probably be just as bad if not worse than this one. If you do tell us, you die, and karma may sit it fitting to reward you in the next life."

"W-with what?"

"WITH WHAT!? How the hell should I know!? Seventy-two virgins! Now make up your mind before I get bored with you." The monk was clearly getting impatient for information, or to kill, it was always hard to tell with him.

"E-eh… we… we didn't eat the girl." He mumbled out hesitantly. "We were just sent to collect her."

"By whom?!"

"Some sleazy doctor. Dude, your priestess is in another castle."

_**BANG!**_


	19. Scene 19: Blind Run

**Scene 19: Blind Run**

"The experiments should be over by now," Kougaiji mumbled, striding quickly down the hall to retrieve the precious doll. Red light was pouring once more through the tall windows, leaving the small oak door at the end to be left in the darkness. His swift step paused before halting when he noticed the door starting to open. Shit! Too early.

Ducking into a side hall, the prince pressed his back to the wall and slowed his breathing. His sharp hearing allowed him to be aware of the mutterings of the last person in the world that he wanted to run into, especially when in _this _hall. The monster's voice seemed to hold a stronger sense of smugness than usual, and Kougaiji could feel his stomach slowly clench. What was he mumbling about?

"The little doll will have a good night's sleep tonight." Nii said as if someone was walking with him, probably talking to that stupid stuffed rabbit he brought with him everywhere. "That little injection will make sure of it."

"Bastard," the hidden youkai thought angrily. "How much more crap were you going to put into her?" However, he calmed himself when Nii began to pass the hall, and carefully crouched down to hide himself behind a small, narrow table laden with insignificant knick-knacks. Purple eyes watched as the sadistic doctor paused in front of the hall he occupied and turned as if he saw or heard something. Kougaiji pressed himself hard against the wall and pulled his head down, heeling his heart pounding up into his throat. For a moment he thought that Nii would hear the erratic and near violent beats, but the other simply continued on his way, mumbling about large castles and nasty drafts.

After the footsteps faded away, Kougaiji slipped out of the side hall and wasted not a moment more. Running to the small oak door, he instantly started to pick the lock, but soon became too frustrated and simply broke the lock off. He easily pulled open the door and looked down at the prone form of the slender Wiccan on the floor. Damnit, if she was asleep it would cause more issues. The prince knelt down and lifted her into his arms, her head resting against his shoulder. Despite being asleep, Kougaiji saw none of the tranquility he observed the night before; she was asleep, but did not want to be in such a state.

"Rinze," he said softly, giving her shoulders a slight shake, but to no avail. The youkai really wanted to avoid using the demonic chants, knowing how anything other than a simple poem could put her into some serious pain. Tough, at the same time, he knew that he could purge the chemicals from her system using the chants. There was no time to look for other options. Kougaiji slid an arm under her knees while the other supported her back before closing his eyes. The door remained open behind him as the words started to roll from his tongue and take life in the air. All most instantly, Rinze's body tensed up, waves of heat and power rushing through her.

Both the elements of water and fire could be considered cleansing forces; the only difference was that while water was renewal, fire was rebirth: destruction before the growth. Kougaiji's hold on her tightened, as trembles started to rock her frail limbs. The heat in the room was escalating, but he ignored it, focusing on healing the priestess.

A sudden, violent jerk of her body all most broke his concentration, but he held out and felt her heart rate pick up and her breathing grow short. Amethyst eyes snapped open to look down into her face and as soon as her eyes open Kougaiji felt his heart stop. Instead of a gentle gray color, there was a solid wall of teal, even the whites and pupils were teal! It phased into a vibrant color of red before vanishing, leaving the eye looking normal except…

…they were blank.

"I…I can't see!" Rinze cried out in fear, only to have Kougaiji's hand clasp over her mouth, silencing her.

"Calm down," he said lowly into her ear, although on the inside he was cursing up a storm. "I am going to get you out of here." Rising to his feet, the prince felt her put arms over his shoulders and cling on for dear life, face buried into his shoulder. As he left the room and ran silently down the hall, he could not help but wonder how that chemical had not been purged. Was it simply because the focus had been on the sleep agent? Or… had the energy… somehow activated the drops Nii had put into her eyes?

Did that insane doctor know?

Kougaiji first brought her to the room reserved for himself, Yaone, and Doku, who were both waiting there for him. Impatient and worried, he simply kicked in the door, entering swiftly with the blind priestess in his arms. Yaone was on her feet in an instant, rushing over to the two and trying to examine the petite Wiccan, who whimpered softly and trembled. Setting Rinze into a soft chair, Kougaiji placed his hands on her shoulders and spoke softly to her, in as calm a voice that he could manage. He needed her to settle down, they had the entire night, but he would like to use most of it to get her as far away as possible.

Once Rinze had regained some semblance of control, and Doku shut and leaned his back on the door, Yaone gently cupped the human's cheeks in her hands, coaxing those gray eyes to open. A frown flittered across her features as she examined the blank quality, the pupil still contracted and expanded when light was added or blocked, but something was just not allowing the priestess to see. She couldn't heal what was not damaged or altered!

Kougaiji was crouched by the Wiccan's knee, to stay out of Yaone's way, and he placed his hand over Rinze's when she started to clutch at her skirt. He had seen the expression on the apothecary's face; herbs, his chants, nor would chi be able to reclaim her vision, because her vision had not been stolen. There had to be something that could be done, but the only thing coming to mind was to wait for the chemical to lose strength and wear off. They didn't have that kind of time, however, and so they would just have to risk running with her blind.

"It can't last forever," the prince said firmly as he felt Rinze's fingers slide to grasp between his. Sharp claws rested against the back of her hand, and Kougaiji was careful to squeeze so that the claws did not dig into her. "This changes the original plan a bit, but it can still work."

The entire group started when there was a loud knocking on the door. Kougaiji pulled the priestess into his chest, muffling her fear into his shoulder. She inhaled shakily, but the warmth of his body and of Feu's presence relaxed all the muscles of her body now that she wasn't in full blown panic-mode. Kougaiji turned his piercing gaze to the door before looking at Doku, still leaning against said door to keep anyone from barging in, and nodding once. Who in the hell could that be, and could there possibly be any _more _hiccups in the plan?

"Who's there?" Doku asked, chatting to the door over his shoulder, sword leaning against the door frame. "And what do ya want?"

"I was sent with a summon for Lord Kougaiji," a nasally voice came through the door. "I thought I could find him here."

Without having to even look at each other, Yaone rushed silently to the back of the room as Kougaiji gathered Rinze up into his arms. Doku cleared his throat as the female youkai slid open a secret panel and held it as the prince leapt through it, and then slid it shut again. All of this was done within half of a minute, as Doku spoke loudly to Yaone about whether or not Kougaiji was in the chambers or not. As soon as the panel clicked shut, the body guard turned and opened the door, grinning down at the messenger in what would be a friendly way if he wasn't completely blocking the doorway.

"He's out on reconnaissance," he said, all most enjoying the idiot's expression when he learned there was more work in store for him. "Dunno when he's going to be back either."

Meanwhile, Kougaiji sprinted down the hidden path with the blind priestess locked within his arms. She wasn't smiling, not even a hint of one, and that just kept the rage boiling in his veins. How dare that bastard?! He had managed to steal the one thing that the prince thought would always be beyond his grasp. The image of her soft smile was imprinted in his mind's eye, and he'd be damned if he never saw it again. Someway… he'd see her safe.

The passage turned into stairs that steeply descended toward the ground floor. Kougaiji took one step at the end of the level floor before pushing off into a swift leap down the stairs. The air rushed past them, kicking up the many folds of Rinze's shirt and tugging at both their hair. He touched down for a split second some couple dozen stairs down and instantly took another leap. The prince had been so focused on keeping the priestess safe and plotting to get her out, he had not put much thought into where he would take her once he got out. The only thing he could do was get her to the farthest town possible and set her up in an inn until he could think up a better plan. That was unless he wanted to risk hiding her somewhere in the wilderness… not a good idea while she was blind.

"We are all most out, Rinze." Kougaiji said once they had landed on level flooring. In front of them was a solid wall with a small divot carved into the side. "Now is where you must be very quiet."

"Okay," She whispered back, curling her fingers into the material of his jacket and pressing her face into his shoulder. The darkness remained heavy over her eyes, and the only way she knew that they were moving was the air touching her skin and the sound of Kougaiji's footsteps against stone. As she hid her face away, she suddenly became very aware of a strong, double-beat rhythm. When focused on, it surged through her body and set a new, constant pace. What was it? The sound soothed her panicked and erratic heart and synced it… that's what it was. Kougaiji's heartbeat, a youkai's heartbeat, it sounded no different from her own. How do people make such big walls, emphasizing the differences while the similarities remain lost in the shadowed depths of the mind? Rinze did not have an answer to that question, and she doubted that anyone did hold such knowledge. Instead of brooding over the puzzle, the Wiccan simply let go and let herself be lost in the synchronized heartbeat.

The youkai instantly felt the startling change that overcame the young priestess in his arms. The tension dominating her body broke, and she seemed to simply melt against him. Although surprising, it was a vast improvement. Being constantly tense wore down the body much faster, even if it is not doing much activity. For a moment, he wondered what caused her to relax, then they came upon the wall and focus was needed. It was true that no one was ever in the east garden, but the corridor leading to it was constantly in use. It was the fastest way between the kitchens, the Grand Hall, and the front gates.

After making sure Rinze was firmly latched on around his neck, Kougaiji raised a hand and slid two fingers into the divot on the wall. The tips touched over the familiar button whose top was level with the rest of the wall and pushed until there was a click and the lock holding the wall shut released. Using his foot, the prince slowly slid the segment of wall open and stepped into a small niche behind a tall statue. The wall automatically shut behind them, and he listened for footsteps in the hall. There were several sets, but they seemed to be walking in a group at a leisurely pace.

The sounds echoed in the large open hallway, be it as they were getting more reverberating and less solid, Kougaiji figured they were walking away from the niche. Leaning slowly into the dim light of the hall, he turned his gaze toward the steps and frowned; there was no mistaking that greasy black hair and stuffed rabbit. The bastard was talking to some low ranks in the castle, obviously giving some kind of orders. Not interested in what those orders entailed, the prince slipped out from behind the statue and swiftly, but silently, carried Rinze in the opposite direction, toward the large, ornate double doors that led out to the east gardens. Setting her onto her feet once outside, Kougaiji turned to slow the door down so that it did not slam.

The air was still warm from the heat of the day, but was swiftly cooling now that the sun had vanished below the horizon. Rinze stood quietly, holding onto her shirts while Kougaiji carefully shut the door. Little blurs of light were glittering before her, flitting back and forth or slowly floating along. What were they? No matter how much she squinted her eyes, the blurs of light would not focus and nothing else would come into view. Everything, except for those balls of light, was black.

"What a-are those b-balls of light?" she whispered after she heard the gentle click of the door shutting. The Wiccan dare not move, lest the balls of light were not friendly to humans.

"Huh?" Turning around, the youkai looked for what she was seeing. "You can see them? They are just fireflies."

"Fireflies…"

"We don't have time for this now," he continued, taking her hand and drawing her close. "I'll catch some in a jar and bring them to you later, if you'd like, but now we have to go."

Sweeping an arm behind her legs, Kougaiji easily lifted her weight up once more. Turning on his heel, he faced the high wall that would lead them east, and took a single step before jumping up onto the top of the wall. Just as he was about to take the first great leap, the doors behind him slammed open. Despite having nearly instantaneous reflexes, Kougaiji felt two pricks in his lower back before a painful shock of electricity surged through his limbs. Releasing only a very restrained yell, he somehow managed to fall forward and onto the other side of the wall and rolled to his back so Rinze landed on his chest with a startled cry. As his back slammed into the ground, his grip on her broke and she rolled off.

"Rinze, run!" Kougaiji could barely move, and he could hear that bastard's voice telling someone to go collect the wayward toys. "Go!"

"I-I can't—"

"I did not risk this for you to be captured again!" He managed to roll onto his feet, although his movements were sluggish and lame and most of his body felt numb.

"B-but I c-can't se—"

"Don't let that stop you!" Lifting his hand, a surge of fire came readily to him and he lashed it out at the youkai who had just jumped on the wall.

"What about you!?" Rinze cried out when she saw a bright flare of blurred red and stumbled away. She couldn't just leave him there to fend off the entire castle!

"I'm more concerned about you, Rinze!" Kougaiji yelled as he continued to throw fire at the attacking youkai. "They know my abilities, and my limits, but you are a mystery still. You're special, and I swear to any god that may listen I will see you dead before I see Nii use you in the ways he probably wants to! RUN, _NOW!" _

Rinze startled violently as Kougaiji, mind a little addled from the shock, snarled and fell prey to his wilder half. Turning way from the flares of light and yelling, the young priestess held out her hands in front of her as she ran. Her heavy skirts flared and swirled around her legs, making it difficult to run efficiently, and being blind did not help either. Any second youkai would over power her rescuer and come after her.

The prince heard her fleeing steps and knew she had listened to him, followed his command. So maybe he had been harsher than he intended to ever be with her, but the thought of Nii getting his nasty, dirty hands on her again was too much to be able to control the rage. His fist came into bone crushing contact with another's jaw as several more youkai jumped the wall. Just then, another painful shock attacked his entire system and forced him onto his knees. Vision blurring and mind swimming, Kougaiji struggled to continue the fight and give Rinze as much time as possible. But fate was cruel, and not a moment later his mind went blank and his vision slowly blacked out.

"Rinze…I…promise…"

_Fireflies._

Rinze was running as fast as she could without either tripping or crashing into an object she could not see. What would happen to Kougaiji if she got away? Here she was, fleeing terrified and lost, while he struggled to hold her pursuers at bay. If only she hadn't been so useless and frightened! She could have helped him fight off both the youkai and whatever had hit him to cause the fall.

"Come here cutie!" A clawed hand came down on the floating material of her skirt and yanked. The sharp nails tore her skirt, but the initial yank tripped the Wiccan and caused her to fall with a yelp.

When she felt her body hit the ground, she instantly went into a roll, scrambling back to her feet. Only achieving three more steps, powerful hands clamped around her waist and yanked her off the feet she had gotten onto not only a moment before. Even blind, if someone is grabbing at you, kicking will usually work. Gritting her teeth, Rinze started to thrash and kick with all the strength her frail body could muster, so far it wasn't enough. Wait…

"Masse! Geben Sie mir Stärke!" She called before the youkai could silence her with a hand. Rinze couldn't see the sparkling dust coiling down her leg, but she most definitely _felt _the force empowering her neck kick. It was like a load of concrete slamming with bone shattering force. A high pitched yelp and the youkai releasing his hold told Rinze that her leg had landed somewhere very tender. A deep, rough, but kind male voice sounded in her head.

"We are here, child." It said as the ground rumbled below her feet. "Call!"

"Vento! Aiutilo! Per favore!"

Instantly the wind picked up, with such rage that Rinze all most felt like she was going to be ripped apart. There were several cries and some heavy thuds off to her right, one so close by that she screamed as well and jumped way, only to have something pick her up and lift her higher into the air. Nothing was touching her, and she did not know how high in the air she was, but, strangely, she felt like a pair of slender, waif-like arms was cradling her. The spirits were certainly very, very active for her today; had they been waiting for her to escape?"

"You haven't call on me in a while, little one." A cheerful, feminine voice scolded. "I'm hurt!"

"S-sorry!" Rinze stammered, and was only answered by a delighted giggle. It was all in her head… that is, the voices were.

"All right Zephyr," the male voice said gently, "set her down someplace safe and then we must leave. We've already pushed a little too far into influence."

"You are such a spoil sport, Onyx."


	20. Scene 20: Water Faeries, Wild Help

**Scene 20: Water Faeries, Wild Help**

Neither Masse nor Vento held any ability to heal or cleanse, and Water had not made them self known. Besides, Rinze would much rather find her friends as quickly as possible. They must be worried about her... She kept pushing her mind forward, if she let it dig its heels in and pull her back... What happened to Kougaiji? Would he be tortured? Maybe they would seal him away like those stories told; Rinze couldn't bear the image of him chained up in the dark. Even now, as it quickly flashed into her mind's eye, an acute aching formed in her chest. It was so poignant and sudden that the Wiccan had to pause to lean against a tree. Vento had set her carefully into a forest and bit her good luck in her journey. The spirits could only directly intervene in a very limited capacity, normally Rinze only dealt with lesser elemental creatures or sensations.

As she rested against the tree, a sudden blurr of sparkling blue zoomed past her line of vision, causing her to jump slightly and try to look after it. A moment later it returned, hovering in front of her, as if the generator was curious about her. That was most definitely not a firefly. It was far too large and the color it gave off with a soft, radiant blue, instead of the warm, shimmering orange.

"Hello?"

"Wow!" A voice that sounded like the tinkling of a crystal bell came from the small blurr of light. "You can see me? Lady Cleo must like you a lot!" The blurr started to dart back and forth and spin around the woman in circles. It was a very dizzying, strobe light effect. Especially when that blurr was the only thing visible in a world of black.

"Please!" Rinze closed her eyes as her head spun slightly, and she lifted a hand to pressed against her temple to try and still it. She also now knew what the blob of color was now. "I can see your light, little faerie, but nothing else."

"You're blind? Why are you wandering in the forest?" The voice asked curiously, the energetic quality leaving as a more worried tone took over. The little one hovered still now, much to the priestess' relief. Her head was throbbing slightly from the faerie's earlier rapid movements.

"I need help... I must find my friends."

"Aw! Poor, pretty lady… I will help you! I will find them, I promise." The light moved closer to her face, and then she felt a tiny pair of soft, cool lips touch her lower one. A feeling as if being completely submerged in water overcame her; she could even feel the pulls and pushes of moving liquid around her. The thirst that had started as she ran was suddenly quenched, and her slight fatigue went away. "My... you have had a rough time haven't you?"

"I'm afraid so..." Rinze said softly, watching the light sway back and forth. "Do you think you can find them??"

"The handsome demon prince..? Or the group of four handsomes?" The faerie asked in response, giggling afterward. "You seem to be a magnet for good looking men..." Rinze could feel her cheeks burn and flush... she wasn't stupid. Yes, she had noticed that they were all rather handsome in their own way... possibly one of the reasons why she was so quiet amidst them... but she did not consider herself fine looking at all, so she never really bothered.

"The group of four..." She finally answered after she regained her composure, though the mention of Kougaiji-- Prince?! Wait a moment, he was a prince..? He could be the only one that the faerie could be referring to... Another ache washed over her chest as the images of the demon came back to her mind. He was probably in so much danger because of her.

"Okay, I will find the four handsomes!" The faerie cooed and spun around in a circle, clapping her small hands. "Be safe, and I will return as quick as I can!" As the blue of blue light zipped away, a gentle rain shower started, sprinkling the area with soft drops of water. When the faerie was out of sight, the shower stopped as well, moving along with the small creature to help her on her search.

Rinze pressed on to find someplace safe to rest. She remembered why she enjoyed interacting with faeries; they were all so different, yet the same on the inside. Water and wind faeries were more playful, although usually the water faeries snap to gentle and kind once they realized their help was needed. Fire faeries were a bit more aggressive, and earth faeries were more stoic, but held a timeless patience behind chocolate colored eyes. Faeries were only seen when and by whom they wanted, unless one was under the good grace of their reigning spirit. It was fortunate that Rinze had the favor of all four major elements; otherwise things could have turned out much worse for her.

A sound, akin to a twig snapping, startled the priestess, who pressed against the closest tree and crouched down. Her heart pounded in her chest, beating against her ribs, as she listened intently for anymore crunches or noises that would mean someone was walking nearby. It could have been some small animal running across the forest floor-- hopefully... it was only some tiny critter skittering on its way. Relying on senses other than sight was difficult; she was not used to doing it so knowing what to do when a particular sense was triggered was effectively eluding the Wiccan.

"Did I scare you?" The voice was female, a little on the quiet side, but something in it told Rinze who ever it was... they were much wiser and knowledgeable than the young quality of the voice portrayed. There was also a ring of slyness to it that set her on edge. That and the sound was coming from directly above her.

Stumbling away from the three and the voice, Rinze could only yelp when she bumped into someone who locked their arms around her. Feeling the soft cushion of breasts against her, it was obvious her newest captor was female as well. Was she surrounded? Had her pursuers finally caught up? The voice that spoke from the tree was suddenly in her ear... the same woman?! How could she have moved so fast? Or was she just getting slower because of her blindness?

"Now, now don't make a fuss." It said, sounding somewhat amused. "Oh I see... you are blind. He-he, no wonder you were so swift to panic. Aren't you a cute one?" The arms loosened from around the Wiccan, no longer constricting and strangely comforting. Rinze felt her head slowly lower to rest against the mysterious woman's bosom, somehow lulled into a feeling of complete safety. What was going on? She was suddenly so tired... and comfortable. Nothing was wrong... why was she so worried? Worried about nothing... how silly. "That's right my dear," The mystery woman said, soft and warm. "You need sleep. We will talk when you are awake."

* * *

When Rinze awoke, she was surprised. Not by the fact that, even with eyes open, all she could see was black, but by what her senses were telling her about her location. Currently, she was lying on a very soft cushion, perhaps a bed, and surrounded by soft blankets. Once she was a little more aware, it clicked in her mind that the blankets were made of amazingly soft fur. It was warm from her body heat, and just begged to be snuggled into, which the Wiccan did without delay.

Her skin tingled all over from the blissfully soft quality of material brushing against it with each movement, and she found it hard to keep still. As she lifted an arm to gather a bunch of fur near her head to act as a pillow, the sensation of the skin of her arm passing over the bare skin of her stomach snapped her out of the lazy day dream. Sitting up, Rinze slowly passed her hands down the length of her body to discover she _was nude, _except for the furs draped over her. What was wrong with her?! Why had she so easily submitted to that woman?! Now she was...

"Now don't cry, my dear." The female voice said, both tender and amused. The cushion shifted as some weight was deposited on it, weight that Rinze tried to shift away from. "Your clothing was shredded and dirty, I simply took it to be mended and cleaned."

"W-who are you?" Rinze gripped the furs against the front of her body, feeling herself trembling.

"My name is Gaia." Replied the voice as a pair of hands fell onto Rinze's shoulders before drawing the furs away. The whimper that was emitted from the slender, pale European was both mortified and pitiful. "Oh dear, you are just so adorable aren't you?"

"P-please." Rinze whispered as she felt herself pulled into the woman's arms, still shaking. Soft silks were wrapped over her shoulders and hands guided her own through sleeves, before some kind of sash was drawn around her petite waist and tied to bind the robe shut. One of the hands rested against her cheek, cupping the skin and passing a thumb over her higher cheekbone. Slowly, the gentle gestures coaxed her eyes to open once more and the trembling to cease.

"Now," Gaia said, running a hand through the girl's tangled hair. "You are going to tell me just what happened to leave you lost in my forest, blind, in the condition that I found you in. While you do that, I am going to fix your pretty hair."

The strange sense of complete calm once more dominating her body, Rinze sat there and quietly told Gaia the entire story. As she talked, a brush took up the battle against the mess that had become of her hair. She was heavily reminded of a time when she was a very young girl, and while her mistress was occupied with her duties, she would sit silently near by with a large, porcelain doll and tend to it. When she mentioned how she became blind, Gaia paused and then set the brush aside.

"If it is not cause naturally," she said, adjusting the robe that now covered the girl, "then it can be fixed."

"I could fix it," Rinze said, her voice barely above a whisper, "if there was a lake near by..."

"Mmm..." there was a faint gleeful note in Gaia's tone now. "There is a lake, about a day's journey from here... It is perfect to go bathing in! As soon as your clothing is repaired, we will go!"

"Why are you helping me?" Rinze asked, finally regaining some idea of common sense. This was all just far too strange to be safe.

"Because," Gaia sounded amused again as her arms surrounded the slim Wiccan's waist, "you were so lost and adorable, it just felt right!" Rinze felt the somewhat insane woman nuzzle into her now smooth hair, and blinked. It was a little awkward, but for now she figured that she really had no choice but to comply with the oddly pleasant Gaia.

_The most precious dolls are always sought after, but only the warmest of hearts and the strongest of passions can melt the porcelain and expose the warmth of true skin beneath._


	21. Scene 21: Warning, Dragon Tears

**Scene 21: Caution, Dragon Tears**

**(May Cause Madness)**

Now back in the inn, the Sanzo Party mulled over the most recent bit of information and the latest failure. So, Rinze had never been eaten, and there had been no intent to eat her in the first place. That irked Sanzo, and he was the last person that anyone _ever _wanted to irk. How dare they make him think she had been eaten?! It was too late to extract any real revenge on them, though death could be considered some type of payback. Sanzo concluded he would just have to do Karma's job for a little longer.

The strange dreams had not stopped, and had become even more cryptic. He turned over the latest one as he stared intently out of the window of their room. Everything was black, but a single beam of light shined down in front of him, like a spotlight. Slumped in the circle of light was the form of Rinze, there was no mistaking that large skirt and pale skin. Her head was dropped so he couldn't see her face; she did not look alive. As the monk had moved to her, strings had become visible, attached to her joints. With each step, the strings jerked her body into movement, and as he got closer the yanks became much more violent until the first step Sanzo took into the light. A pain rattled cry seized his heart; it was coming from the Wiccan's limp body, only held upright by the strings. That had been the end of the dream when Sanzo had wrenched himself awake.

"Damnit, Rinze." He whispered, "You're causing so much trouble for us--"

"But she's worth it." Hakkai's voice interrupted from the doorway. The chi-wielder smiled when he saw the blonde's shoulders hunch. "We've been travelling for a long time now, day-in and day-out, being attacked and killing anything that stands against us. Rinze was a change from that; she's different from most people we meet."

Sanzo made a non-committed noise in his throat, folding his arms jerkily over his chest. Hakkai always had to say out loud what he was thinking privately, putting actual substance in to things he would normally brush under a mental rug. Damn bumps in his mental rugs. Lifting a cancer stick to his lips, the monk flicked a lighter open and passed his thumb over the wheel.

Something in the back of his head told him that Hakkai was still standing there, waiting for some kind of real answer. Blowing out a puff of smoke, along with a silent sigh, Sanzo turned to face the other occupant of the room, expression closed off.

"If these people involved with the revival want her so badly," he said, balancing his cigarette delicately between his lips. "Then her power, what ever it is, may be an asset to helping them get their demented wish. Since our job is to stop the revival, we have no choice but to get her back."

"Quite true," Hakkai answered, that conjured smile still dominating his features, "but that wasn't your reasoning when we charged out of the inn the night she was taken." Hit! The tension in Sanzo's shoulders returned as his lips pursed over the cigarette and his teeth clenched into it.

"They targeted her specifically," he growled barely moving his mouth. After that he said no more, not one to just spill his guts when confronted by his own feelings and problems.

Hakkai simply gazed at the wayward holy man, emerald eyes glistening in the dim light. Although they both knew they wanted Rinze safe, neither of them could find a reason for why so much effort was being put in to finding her. The chi-wielder enjoyed the energy she gave off; it was very intense, but all most timid at the same time. Sanzo just liked the fact that she wasn't insane, loud or a drunkard… although he couldn't say the same for himself. He always hated himself anyway.

Both of them started when the silent air was suddenly broken by a low, mournful note. It was coming from inside the room, more specifically from Sanzo's bed. The covers jostled a little before the note sounded again. The monk walked over to the bed and drew the blankets back, exposing a small ball of black scales and purple fluff. Meian's body was shaking slightly as she lifted her head and blinked tear filled eyes up at the two in the room. Sanzo didn't know how long the mini-dragon had been curled up there, and he all most hoped it had not been for long.

"She must be blaming herself," Hakkai said softly as the blond took a seat on the bed. He scooped up the dragon in one arm, resting his hand on her back when she hid her face away into his robes. A vein in Sanzo's temple was pulsing slightly, anger starting to drown out any other emotions as he listened to Meian's soft sobs.

If for no other reason, they had to reunite Meian with her closest friend.

* * *

Gravel crunched under Goku's feet as he walked out into the backyard of the inn. While relieved to know that Rinze wasn't dead, that didn't change the fact that she wasn't with them. She still wasn't safe. Sleep was the last thing on the monkey's mind, and he found himself day dreaming as his fingers traced the delicate carvings in the blue stone hanging around his neck. A single blink activated a startling scene shift, though the youth didn't even bat an eyelash.

The forest swiftly grew around him and the grass below him grew much more lush and soft. Gray mist rolled in, surrounding Goku completely, but still he did not seem alarmed. Golden eyes instantly recognized the scene and the fresh scent of the earth filled his nostrils. Moving a hand through the air, he could all most _feel _the water suspended in mid-air. The silvery-white color of the mist vividly reminded him of Rinze's eyes: like the glowing quality of a full moon on a clear night.

"It's really quiet out here," Goku said to no one, blinking several times and clearing his head. "Whoa… where am I?" He recognized it as the place in his dream, but he wasn't sleeping… was he? A soft chiming noise zipped past his ear just as the soft drops of water from a gently shower tapped against his face. His breath escaped him for a moment, and the constant gnawing emptiness in his stomach vanished.

Another blink, and the monkey was standing back behind the inn, and it was raining. Rubbing his head it took him a moment to notice a ball of blue light darting back and forth between the trees. What was that? When it flitted back the other way, he could see a tiny figure encased in the light. It looked like a very, _very _small lady.

Suddenly, the tiny figure stopped zooming back and forth and hovered there, staring in Goku's direction. He could see her little, waif-like form and long, slightly wild blond hair, with little gems that looked all most like water droplets woven into the golden waves. Its tips were cast a shimmering blue, and her eyes sparkled like sapphires. The thing that was most interesting about her tiny stature was that she had rather large, swallow-tail butterfly wings. They glistened with different shades of blue, giving the effect of being underwater.

"Hello?"

The human-butterfly instantly shot right up to him, gazing him full in the face with a very open expression on her features. It was obvious that she was looking for something… or one, and was very intent on finding it. What could it be?

"Hi!" The butterfly said happily, "you could see me?"


	22. Scene 22: Deep Waters and Spinning Tops

**Scene 22: Deep Waters and Spinning Tops**

"Come along, my dear." Gaia said pleasantly as she took hold of Rinze's elbow and easily hoisted her up onto the back of a horse. The creature snorted and shifted its weight over its hooves, getting accustomed to the bodies on its back. Rinze gathered her skirts, fingers passing over the added panels of soft, but stable brocade silk that had been sew in to make up for the material that had been torn from it. She was curious as to what her outfit looked like now, but knew she was still quite a way from regaining her sight. She could feel the intricate embroidery coiling over the added panels, and could all most picture what the images were in her head. All she really saw were a bunch of swirling lines, perhaps when she saw the color of the images it would make sense.

The horse nickered softly before starting off at a relaxed walk. Gaia's arms were surrounding the Wiccan's waist to make sure she stayed on as she urged the horse to go faster. The rhythm quickly picked up, but as soon as their mounted entered into a gallop, its stride was so smooth Rinze would swear its hooves were no longer touching the ground. There was no way for her to tell how fast they were going other than by the gentle winds that brushed over her features.

"On horseback it greatly cuts the travelling time." Gaia said into Rinze's ear, and she could all most picture a face to go with the voice. She could clearly see a smile, a very sly, amused smile, but that was the only thing. "We should be swimming by sunset, if not before."

It was a little boring, the trip to the lake. There wasn't much Rinze could do except sit and hold on. Being blind, she couldn't even just stare blankly at the landscapes. Several times she thought she had fallen asleep, but it was hard to tell the difference. When she was aware, the Wiccan could occasionally feel her caretaker's arm squeeze her in a brief hug, but other then that she was lulled back into the rhythm of the horse's stride.

* * *

Snapping back to awareness, Rinze realized she had been placed down on a thick fur on the ground while she slept. For a moment, she did not want to move or get up, the fur beckoning her to just lie there and snuggle with it. The sound of water gently rushing against the shore floated around her, and it had to still be the early afternoon, because she could feel the sun's embrace all along her body. Somewhere behind her, she could hear the horse grazing, staying relatively close to her prone form. 

A clear, sweet melody broke through the air, ringing over the lake and echoing back. It was most definitely some kind of wind instrument, perhaps a flute. It was coming from above Rinze, and she assumed that Gaia was perched in a tree, playing to her heart's content. She had been so protective over the Wiccan that Rinze doubted the strange woman would leave her alone, exposed as she was. The melody lifted her chest, her heart swelling as she took a deep breath of air, and sent her off to a daydream.

"Awake, my dear?" The song had stopped, and Rinze heard the faint rustling of leaves before a light impact on the ground near her. "You should have told me demons were after you!" Her stomach dropped for a moment, but Gaia continued with her cheerful tone. "Their attempts to seize you while you dreamt quite amused me. It was a very pleasant way to pass the time."

Familar hands helped Rinze to her feet as she tried to make sense of what was said. So Gaia wasn't angry, and she actually _enjoyed _fighting off the youkai? That was just a little unsettling. How could she have slept through battles?

Rinze felt her skirt fall away before nimble fingers worked on the clasps to her shirt. Although her cheeks start to burn again, not a single part of her started to panic. Gaia's touches and movements were gentle, and the priestess figured if the other woman wanted to do something, she would have by now.

The water was cool, but not so much that it gave her goosebumps. Gaia remained on shore, saying that although she'd love to go swimming, it would be better if she stood guard. So, Rinze waded out on her own, taking each step slowly so that she did not trip. She could feel the fish in the lake swimming around her legs, and soon her waist as she moved deeper. They were obviously attracted to the heat that she produced. Once the water was a little higher than her waist, Rinze dove forward into the water, swimming farther in until she could not longer touch the bottom.

Taking a deep breath of air, she swam straight down until she felt that there was six or seven feet of water above her. Righting herself (or what she assumed was righting), Rinze lifted her hands and focused. Submerged as she was in the element, the Wiccan did not need to vocalize to call on the power. Soon the water's current around her became more forceful, responding to the silent plight. A tingling rushed down her body, spreading out to her fingertips and down to her toes. A gentle, kind voice spoke calmly in Rinze's head.

"Quite the ugly thing, what he did to you." It said, sounding like the woman's voice she heard the night her mistress was burned. "Making it so _his _fire was what made you blind, but do not fret, little one, I can cleanse it from you."

A blur of white-blue light suddenly came to life in front of her, before three more appeared around her. The one to her left moved below her, the one to her right above her, and the last two started to orb around her at waist level. Chords of the same light extended from above her, threading through the mid-orbs before continuing down to the one on the bottom. Rinze just let the spirit do as it will, allowing it her complete trust to heal her. The lights flickered and vibrated, creating a soothing harmony in the water. Rinze felt her conciousness drawn away from her, and her body hovered, frozen in the water.

Without warning, she felt her body being rushed to the surface of the lake and soon was thrust into the air. As soon as the warmth of the sun kissed her face, silver eyes opening up to take in her surroundings. The lake was huge! No wonder the cleansing was so swift and powerful! From where she was, the priestess could barely see the other shore, and the tops of the trees were the only things identifiable. The lake water glistened in the sunlight, gently pushing her back to shore.

The sounds of a fight brought Rinze's attention to the shore she had originally come from. A tall, slender woman was standing defiant against a troupe of seven or eight youkai. Her features were pale and delicate looking, though a cheerful smile was glued as her expression. Long tresses of perfectly straight, nearly white blond hair were pulled back into a high pontail, and a trim frame was clothed in a form fitting outfit with a heavy Asian influence in the vibrant colors of blue and rich brown. The sleeves were the only piece that did not hug the woman's body, they flared out and draped long past her hands. When she opened her eyes, Rinze could not help but to stare... there were so black it was nearly impossible to tell the different between the iris and the pupil.

"I am sorry, my friends." The blond said, Gaia's voice coming from her mouth. "I am afraid I cannot allow you to access the young Wiccan." With that said, she lifted a hand, palm up, and summoned a small object to it, over the cloth that covered her hand. It was spinning quite fast, balanced perfectly on a small point... a top?

In the blink of an eye, Gaia had launched the object at the troupe, causing a powerful shockwave as soon as the top hit the ground. The youkai went sailing through the air, only to be sliced to bits when Gaia followed them with two long, narrow scythe blades that dropped from the material of the blond's sleeves that were attached to two long, thick ribbons of cloth. Rinze ducked lower in the water as the blades vanished back into the mysterious woman's sleeves and she turned.

"Are you finished, my dear?" She called, that smile adorning her features once more. "If you are, come on out, and we'll get you dried and dressed again!"


End file.
